lUill, 




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Japan 




I 



By 



David Murray, Ph.D., LL.D. 

Superintendent of Education in the Empire of Japan, 

and Adviser to the Imperial Minister of Education, 

from 1873 to 1879 



Revised Edition, Continuing the history 
to the Close of 1905, with the Pro- 
visions of the Treaty of Ports- 
mouth between Russia and 
Japan, and 



Supplementary Chapters 

By 

Baron Kentaro Kaneko, LL.D. 



story of the Nations 

A Series of Historical Studies intended to present in 
graphic narratives the stories of the different 
nations that have attained prominence in history. 



In the story form the current of each national 
life is distinctly indicated, and its picturesque and 
noteworthy periods and e^;Asodes are presented for 
the reader in their philosophical relations to each 
other as well as to universal history. 



12°, Illustrated, cloth, each . net $1.50 
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JAPAN 




Frontispiece, 



BELL AT KYOTO. 



JAPAN 



BY 

DAVID MURRAY, Ph.D., LL.D. 

SUPERINTENDENT OF EDUCATION IN THE EMPIRE OF JAPAN, AND ADVISER TO THE 
IMPERIAL MINISTER OF EDUCATION, FROM 1873 TO 1879 



REVISED EDITION, CONTINUING THE HISTORY TO THE 

CLOSE OF 1905, WITH THE PROVISIONS OF THE 

TREATY OF PORTSMOUTH BETWEEN 

RUSSIA AND JAPAN, AND 

SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTERS 

BY 
BARON KENTARO KANEKO, LL.D. 



NEW YORK 
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 

LONDON : . T. FISHER UN WIN 



... \) 



/\ ' C7N LP 



Copyright. i8(?4 

BY 

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 



COYPRIGHT, 1906 
BY 

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 
(For Revised Edition) 



ttbe Iftnfcfierbocftet press» f»cw Jgorft 



PUBLISHER'S NOTE. 



THE death in March, 1905, of David Murray, 
the author of this volume, prevented him 
from carrying out his intention of bringing the 
narrative down to include the important events of 
the last fifteen years in the ** Story of Japan." 

The chapters presenting the record of these fifteen 
years, including an account of the more important 
and epoch-making of the events in the Russo- 
Japanese War of 1904-05, have been prepared by 
Albert White Vorse. 

The Baron Kentaro Kaneko, LL.D., who has 
himself been charged with important responsibilities 
by the Imperial Government of his country, has 
most generously contributed two very interesting 
and important chapters to this new edition, this 
contribution being made in recognition of the valu- 
able work done by David Murray, LL.D., who 
served during the years from 1873 to 1879 as spe- 
cial adviser to the Imperial Janpanes-e Minister of 
Education, who was able to render most valuable 
co-operation in the foundation of the present Jap- 
anese system of Education, and, to quote Baron 



iv PUBLISHER'S NOTE. 

Kaneko's own words, ** through whose earnest and 
untiring efforts the Japan of to-day and the ideal of 
the Japan of the future have been brought to the 
knowledge of a wondering and admiring world." 

April 2, IQ06. 



PREFACE. 



It is the object of this book to trace the story of 
Japan from its beginnings to the establishment of 
constitutional government. Concerned as this story 
is with the period of vague and legendary antiquity 
as well as with the disorders of mediaeval time and 
with centuries of seclusion, it is plain that it is not 
an easy task to present a trustworthy and connected 
account of the momentous changes through which 
the empire has been called to pass. It would be 
impossible to state in detail the sources from which 
I have derived the material for this work. I place 
first and as most important a residence of several 
years in Japan, during which I became famihar with 
the character of the Japanese people and with the 
traditions and events of their history. Most of the 
works treating of Japan during and prior to the 
period of her seclusion, as well as the more recent 
works, I have had occasion to consult. They will be 
found referred to in the following pages. Beyond 
all others, however, I desire to acknowledge my obli- 



VI 



PREFACE, 



gations to the Transactions of the Asiatic Society of 
Japan. A list of the contributors to these trans- 
actions would include such names as Satow, Aston, 
Chamberlain, McClatchie, Gubbins, Geerts, Milne, 
Whitney, Wigmore and others, whose investigations 
have made possible a reasonably complete knowledge 
of Japan. The Transactions of the German Asiatic 
Society are scarcely less noteworthy than those of 
her sister society. To these invaluable sources of 
information are to be added Chamberlain's Things 
Japanese, Rein's Japan and the Industries of Japan, 
Griffis* Mikado's Empire, Mounsey's Satsuma Rebel- 
lion, Dening's Life of Hideyoshi, the published papers 
of Professor E. S. Morse, and the two handbooks 
prepared successively by Mr. Satow and Mr. Cham- 
berlain. 

To friends who have taken an interest in this pub- 
lication I owe many thanks for valuable and timely 
help: to Dr. J. C. Hepburn, who for so many years 
was a resident in Yokohama ; to Mr. Benjamin Smith 
Lyman of Philadelphia who still retains his interest 
in and knowledge of things Japanese; to Mr. Tateno, 
the Japanese Minister at Washington, and to the 
departments of the Japanese government which 
have furnished me material assistance. 

In the spelling of Japanese words I have followed, 
with a few exceptions, the system of the Roman 
Alphabet Association (Romaji Kai) as given in its 
published statement. I have also had constantly at 
hand Hepburn's Dictionary, the Dictionary of Towns 
and Roads, by Dr. W. N. Whitney, and Murray's 
Handbook of Japan, by B. H. Chamberlain. In 



PREFACE, vii 

accordance with these authorities, in the pronun- 
ciation of Japanese words the consonants are to be 
taken at their usual English values and the vowels 
at their values in Italian or German. 

David MurraYo 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER 
I. 
II. 
III. 

IV. 
V. 



^r 



THE JAPANESE ARCHIPELAGO 

THE ORIGINAL AND SURVIVING RACES . 

MYTHS AND LEGENDS .... 

FOUNDING THE EMPIRE 

NATIVE CULTURE AND CONTINENTAL IN 

FLUENCES 

THE MIDDLE AGES OF JAPAN 

EMPEROR AND SHOGUN 

FROM THE ASHIKAGA SHOgUNS TO THE 

DEATH OF NOBUNAGA . 
TOYOTOMI HIDEYOSHI .... 
THE FOUNDING OF THE TOKUGAWA SHO 

GUNATE 

CHRISTIANITY IN THE SEVENTEENTH CEN 

TURY 

FEUDALISM IN JAPAN .... 

COMMODORE PERRY AND WHAT FOLLOWED 

REVOLUTIONARY PRELUDES. 

THE RESTORED EMPIRE 

THE CONSTITUTION AND THE WAR WITH 

CHINA 

THE STRUGGLE WITH RUSSIA 
RESOURCES AND IDEALS OF MODERN JAPAN, BY 
BARON KENTARO KANEKO, LL.D.: 



VI. 

VIL 
VIII. 

IX. 
X. 

XI. 

XII. 
XIIL- 
XIV. 

XV. 
XVI. 

XVII. 



PAGB 

I 

20 

32 

51 

81 
117 
151 

169 

193 
225 

240 
269 

309 

335 
367 

397 
418 



CONTENTS, 



I. 



II. 



APPENDIX 



the russo-japanese war and the re 

sources of japan . • . • 
japan's policy and ideals : domestic 
and foreign . 
i. list of emperors 

list of year-periods . 
list of shoguns . 
laws of shotoku taishi 
the negotiations between ja 
pan and russia, i903-i904 

INDEX ........ 

INDEX TO SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTERS . 



II. 

III. 

IV. 

V. 



457 

473 
491 
496 
504 
510 

515 
553 
564 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



BELL AT KYOTO 
* 



SHINTOISTS . 
f MAP OF LEGENDARY JAPAN . 
AINO FAMILY . . . 

SHINTO TEMPLE 
J BURIED IMAGES 
J MAGATAMA AND KUDATAMA 
PORTRAIT OF MICHIZANE 
STATUE OF YORITOMO 
PORTRAIT OF ST. FRANCIS XAVIER 
PORTRAIT OF HIDEYOSHI 
TOKUGAWA CREST . 
§ PLEASURE YACHTS AND MERCHANT VESSEL 
PORTRAIT OF lEYASU 
* MIXING INK FOR WRITING 



STYLES OF LETTERS 

* JAPANESE SYLLABARY 

SWORD-MAKER 



PAGE 

Frontispiece 



*From Regamey's ** yapan in Art and Industry^ 
f From Chamberlain's " T7'anslatio7i of Kojiki** 
\ From Henry von Siebold's " yapanese Archcsoiogy.** 
§ From Charlevoix's *' Histoire et Description de Japon, 



I 
lO 
21 

59 
67 

89 

131 
149 

175 
223 

239 
263 
270 
272 

273 
274 
283 



X i i ILL US TRA TIONS. 



PAGE 



SWORD, SPEARS, AND MATCHLOCK . , , .285 

* LANTERN 286 

DAIBUTSU AT KAMAKURA . • • • . 287 

BELL AT KYOTO . . , , , , , 280 

OBAN, GOLD COIN, 1 727 . 307 

CAUTERIZING WITH MOXA 308 

COMMODORE M. C. PERRY 315 

* WRESTLERS 334 

PORTRAIT OF KIDO TAKEYOSHI . . , -357 

PORTRAIT OF UDAIJIN IWAKURA TOMOMI , . 359 

PORTRAIT OF THE REIGNING EMPEROR . , . 2>^2i 

IMPERIAL CRESTS 365 

GATHERING LACQUER . .... "^d^ 

PORTRAIT OF MORI ARINORI 2>^2i 

PORTRAIT OF OKUBO TOSHIMICHI . , , . 393 

PORTRAIT OF ITO HIROBUMI 395 

ADMIRAL TOGO 430 

GENERAL KUROKI 433 

MAP OF JAPAN. (compiled FROM MANY JAPANESE 

AND FOREIGN SOURCEs) . . . facing 552 



* From Regamey's " Japan in Art and Industry^ 



n 




^ 



'^ 



^^ 





DANCER. 




ASSISTANT. 



THE MIRROR-DANCE. 



SHINTOISTS. 




THE STORY OF JAPAN 



CHAPTER I. 



THE JAPANESE ARCHIPELAGO. 



The first knowledge of the Japanese empire was 
brought to Europe by Marco Polo after his return 
from his travels in China in A.D. 1295. He had 
been told in China of " Chipangu/ an island tow- 
ards the east in the high seas, 1500 miles from the 
continent ; and a very great island it is. The peo- 
ple are white, civilized, and well favored. They 
are idolaters, and are dependent on nobody. And 
I can tell you the quantity of gold they have is 
endless ; for they find it in their own islands." The 
name Chipangu is the transliteration of the Chinese 
name which modern scholars write Chi-pen-kue, by 
which Japan was then known in China. From it 
the Japanese derived the name Nippon, and then 
prefixed the term Dai (great), making it Dai Nippon, 
the name which is now used by them to designate 

' T/ie Book of Ser Marco Polo, the Venetian ; translated by Colo, 
nel Henry Yule^ C.B. Second edition, London, 1875, vol. ii., p. 235. 



2 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

their empire. Europeans transformed the Chinese 
name into Japan, or Japon, by which the country is 
known among them at present. 

Marco Polo's mention of this island produced a 
great impression on the discoverers of the fifteenth 
century. In Toscanelli's map, used by Columbus 
as the basis of his voyages, " Cipango " occupies a 
prominent place to the east of Asia, with no Ameri- 
can continent between it and Europe. It was the 
aim of Columbus, and of many subsequent explorers, 
to find a route to this reputedly rich island and to 
the eastern shores of Asia. 

The islands composing the empire of Japan are 
situated in the northwestern part of the Pacific 
ocean. They are part of the long line of volcanic 
islands stretching from the peninsula of .Kamtschatka 
on the north to Formosa on the south. The direc- 
tion in which they lie is northeast and southwest, 
and in a general way they are parallel to the 
continent. 

The latitude of the most northern point of Yezo 
is 45° 35', and the latitude of the most southern 
point of Kyushu is 31°. - The longitude of the most 
eastern point of Yezo is 146° 17', and the longitude 
of the most western point of Kyushu is 130° 31^ 
The four principal islands therefore extend through 
14° 35' of latitude and 15° 46' of longitude. 

The Kurile islands ' extending from Yezo north- 
east to the straits separating Kamtschatka from the 
island of Shumushu belong also to Japan. This last 

'These islands belonged to Russia until 1875, when by a treaty 
they were ceded to Japan in exchange for the rights of possession 
which she held in the island of Saghalien. 



THE JAPANESE ARCHIPELAGO. 3 

island has a latitude of 51° 5' and a longitude of 
157° lo^ In like manner the Ryukyu islands, lying 
in a southwest direction from Kyushu belong to Ja- 
pan. The most distant island has a latitude of 24° 
and a longitude of 123° 45'. The whole Japanese 
possessions therefore extend through a latitude of 
27° 5' and a longitude of 33° 25'. 

The empire consists of four large islands and not 
less than three thousand small ones. Some of these 
small islands are large enough to constitute distinct 
provinces, but the greater part are too small to have 
a separate political existence, and are attached for 
administrative purposes to the parts of the large 
islands opposite to which they lie. The principal 
island is situated between Yezo on the north and 
Kyushu on the south. 

From Omasaki, the northern extremity at the 
Tsugaru straits, to Tokyo, the capital, the island 
runs nearly north and south a distance of about 590 
miles, and from Tokyo to the Shimonoseki straits 
the greatest extension of the island is nearly east and 
west, a distance of about 540 miles. That is, meas- 
uring in the direction of the greatest extension, the 
island is about 11 30 miles long. The width of the 
island is nowhere greater than two hundred miles 
and for much of its length not more than one 
hundred miles. 

Among the Japanese this island has no separate 
name.' It is often called by them Hondo'' which 

* E. M. Satow, Transactions of the Asiatic Society, vol. i., p. 30. 
^ This word is not a proper najne but a descriptive designation, 
and must be understood in this way when used by Dr. Griffis in his 



4 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

may be translated Main island. By this translated 
name the principal island will be designated in these 
pages. The term Nippon or more frequently Dai 
Nippon (Great Nippon) is used by them to designate 
the entire empire, and it is not to be understood as 
restricted to the principal island. 

The second largest island is Yezo, lying northeast 
from the Main island and separated from it by the 
Tsugaru straits. Its longest line is from Cape 
Shiretoko at its northeast extremity to Cape Shira- 
kami on Tsugaru straits, about 350 miles ; and 
from its northern point. Cape Soya on the La Per- 
ouse straits to Yerimosaki, it measures about 270 
miles. The centre of the island is an elevated peak, 
from which rivers flow in all directions to the ocean. 
Hakodate the principal port is situated on Tsugaru 
straits and possesses one of the most commodious 
harbors of the empire. 

The third in size of the great islands of Japan is 
Kyushu, a name meaning nine provinces, referring 
to the manner in which it was divided in early times. 
It lies south from the western extremity of the Main 
island. Its greatest extension is from north to 
south, being about 200 miles. Its width from east 
to west varies from sixty to ninety miles. Its 

Mikado's Empire and by Dr. Rein in his two works on Japan. In 
the successive issues of the Resume Statistique^ published by the 
Statistical Bureau, the term Nippon is used to designate the principal 
island. This name has the advantage of having been used exten- 
sively in foreign books, but its restricted use is contrary to the cus- 
tom of Japan, After much consideration we have determined to 
designate the principal island by the term " Main island," which is 
the translation of the word Hondo. 



THE JAPANESE ARCHIPELAGO. 5 

temperature and products partake of a tropical 
character. 

To the east of Kyusha Hes Shikoku (meaning four 
provinces) which is the fourth of the great islands 
of Japan. It is about one half as large as Kyushu, 
which in climate and productions it much resembles. 
It is south of the western extension of the Main 
island and is nearly parallel to it. Its length is 
about 170 miles. 

In the early history of Japan one of its names 
among the natives was Oyashima, meaning the 
Great Eight Islands. The islands included in this 
name were : the Main island, Kyushu, Shikoku, 
Awaji, Sado, Tsushima, Oki, and Iki. The large 
island of Yezo had not then been conquered and 
added to the empire. 

Awaji is situated in the Inland sea between the 
Main island and Shikoku. It is about fifty miles 
long and has an area of 218 square miles. Sado is 
situated in the Japan sea, off the northwest coast 
of the Main island. It is about forty-eight miles 
long and has an area of about 335 square miles. 
Tsushima lies half-way between Japan and Korea, 
and has a length of about forty-six miles, and an 
area of about 262 square miles. Oki lies off the 
coast of Izumo and has an area of about 130 square 
miles. Finally Iki, the smallest of the original 
great eight islands, lies west of the northern ex- 
tremity of Kyushu and has an area of fifty square 
miles. 

The Japanese islands are invested on the east 
by the Pacific ocean. They are separated from 



6 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

the continent by the Okhotsk sea, the Japan sea, 
and the Yellow sea. The Kuro Shiwo (black cur- 
rent) flows from the tropical waters in a northeast 
direction, skirting the islands of Japan on their east 
coasts, and deflecting its course to the eastward 
carries its ameliorating influences to the west coast 
of America. It is divided by the projecting southern 
extremity of the island of Kyushu, and a perceptible 
portion of it flows on the west coast of the Japanese 
islands through the Japan sea and out again into 
the Pacific ocean through the Tsugaru and the La 
Perouse straits. The effect of the Kuro Shiwo 
upon the climate and productions of the lands along 
which it flows is not greatly different from that of 
the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic ocean, which in 
situation, direction, and volume it resembles. 

The body of water known among foreigners as 
the Inland sea, but which the Japanese call Seto-no- 
Uchi-Umi (the sea within the straits), is a picturesque 
sheet of water situated between the Linschoten 
straits on the east and the Shimonoseki straits on 
the west. The latter is seven miles long and at its 
narrowest part not more than two thousand feet 
wide. It separates KyushQ on the south from the 
Main island on the north. The Inland sea is occu- 
pied by an almost countless number of islands, which 
bear evidence of volcanic origin, and are covered 
with luxuriant vegetation. The lines of steamers 
from Shanghai and Nagasaki to the various ports on 
the Main island, and numberless smaller craft in 
every direction, run through the Inland sea. 

The principal islands of Japan are interspersed 



THE JAPANESE ARCHIPELAGO, / 

with mountains, hills and valleys. Yezo the most 
northern of these islands is traversed by two ranges 
of mountains ; the one being the extension of the 
island of Saghalien, the other the extension of the 
Kurile islands. These two ranges cross each other 
at the centre of the island, and here the greatest 
elevation is to be found. The shape given to the 
island by these intersecting ranges is that of a four- 
pointed star. The rivers in nearly all cases flow 
from the centre outward to the sea. There are few 
large rivers. The most important is the Ishikari 
which empties into Ishikari bay. The valley of 
this river is th^ most rich and fertile part of the 
island. 

The mountain ranges on the Main island extend 
usually in the greatest direction of the island. In the 
northern and central portions the ranges chiefly run 
north and south. In the western extension of this 
island the mountain ranges run in nearly an east and 
west direction. The ordinary height attained by 
these ranges is not great, but there are many volcanic 
peaks which rise out of the surrounding mass to a 
great elevation. The highest mountain in Japan is 
Fuji-san (sometimes called Fuji-yama). It is almost 
conical in shape ; although one side has been de- 
formed by a volcanic eruption which occurred in 
1707. It stands not far from the coast, and is di- 
rectly in view from the steamers entering the bay of 
Tokyo on their way to Yokohama. It is about sixty 
miles from Tokyo in a direct line, and there are 
many places in the city from which it can be seen. 
Its top is covered with snow during ten months of 



8 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

the year, which the heat of August and September 
melts away. The height of Fuji-san according to the 
measurement of Enghsh naval ofificers is 12,365 feet.^ 
. Next to Fuji-san the mountains most worthy of 
notice are Gas-san in Uzen, Mitake in Shinano, the 
Nikko mountains in Shimotsuke, Haku-san in Kaga, 
Kirishima-yama in Hyuga, and Asama-yama in 
Shinano. Asama-yama is about 8,000 feet high, and 
is an active volcano. 

From time immemorial the Japanese islands have 
been affected with earthquakes. Occasionally they 
have been severe and destructive, but usually slight 
and ineffective. It is said that not less than five 
hundred shocks^ occur in Japan each year. The last 
severe earthquake was in the autumn of 1891, when 
the central part of the Main island, especially in the 
neighborhood of Gifu, was destructively disturbed. 
During the long history of the empire many notable 
cases ^ have occurred. Mr. Hattori-Ichijo in a paper 
read before the Asiatic Society of Japan, March, 1878, 
has compiled a list of destructive earthquakes, and 
has deduced from it some important generalizations. 

^ See Satow and Hawes' Handbook, p. 108. 

^ See Chamberlain's Things yapanese, second edition, p. 122. 

^ One of the most notable of these is that which occurred in 1596 
when Hideyoshi was at Fushimi. In 1854 a series of shocks fol- 
lowed by tidal waves occurred on the east coast of the Main island. 
The town of Shimoda, which had been opened as a port for foreign 
trade was almost destroyed, and the Russian frigate Diana which 
was lying there was so injured that she had to be abandoned. In 
1855 a severe earthquake occurred at Yedo, which was accompanied 
by a great fire. About 16,000 dwelling-houses and other buildings 
are said to have been destroyed, and a large number of lives were 
lost. Transactions of Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. vi., p. 249. 



THE JAPANESE ARCHIPELAGO. 9 

Closely associated with earthquakes in Japan as 
elsewhere are the phenomena of volcanoes. The 
whole archipelago bears evidence of volcanic forma- 
tion. The long line of islands stretching from 
Kamtschatka to Borneo is plainly the product of 
continued volcanic action. Dr. Rein ' enumerates 
eighteen active volcanoes now in existence within 
the empire. Fuji-san in all its beauty was no doubt 
thrown up as a volcano. The last time it was in 
action was in 1707, when in connection with a series 
of severe earthquake shocks, an eruption took place 
on the south side of the mountain, and its symmet- 
rical form was destroyed by the production of the 
new crater, Hoye-san. 

Among the mountainous districts many small lakes 
are found, a few of which are large enough to be 
navigated. In Yezo there are six considerable lakes. 
In the Main island the largest lake is Biwa, in the 
beautiful mountain region north of Kyoto. It re- 
ceived its name from its fancied resemblance to the 
shape of a musical instrument called a bhva. There 
is a legend that this lake came into existence in a 
single night, when the volcanic mountain Fuji-san 
300 miles distant was raised to its present height. 
It is about fifty miles long and about twenty miles 
broad at its greatest width. It is said to be not less 
than 330 feet at its greatest depth. It is navigated 
by steamboats and smaller craft. It is situated 
about 350 feet above the ocean. Lake Suwa in 
Shinano is 2,635 feet above the ocean. Lake Chu- 

^ Rein's yapan^ p. 44. In Things yapanese second edition, p. 
122, Japan is credited with no less than fifty-c^tie active volcanoes. 



lO THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

zenji in the Nikko mountains is 4,400 feet : and 
Hakone lake near Yokohama is 2,400 feet. 

Owing to. the narrowness of the Main island, there 
are no rivers of a large size. Most of them take 
their rise in the mountainous regions of the middle 
of the islands, and by a more or less circuitous route 
find their way to the ocean. The Tone-gawa {gazva 
means river) is the longest and broadest of the 
rivers of Japan. It rises in Kotsuke and flows in an 
eastern direction, receiving many tributaries, attains 
a breadth of more than a mile, and with a current 
much narrowed, empties into the Pacific ocean at 
Choshi point. It is about 170 miles long and is 
navigated by boats for a great distance. The 
Shinano-gawa, which may be named as second in 
size, rises in the province of Shinano, flows in a 
northern direction, and empties into the Japan sea 
at Ni-igata. The Kiso-gawa also rises in the high 
lands of Shinano, and, flowing southward, empties 
into Owari bay. The Fuji-kawa^ takes its rise in 
the northern part of the province of Kai, and in its 
course skirting the base of Fuji-san on the west, 
empties into Suruga bay. It is chiefly notable for 
being one of the swiftest streams in Japan and liable 
to sudden and great floods. 

To these rivers may be added the Yodo-gawa, 
which is the outlet of Lake Biwa, in the province of 
Omi, and which flows through Kyoto, and empties 
into the Inland sea at Osaka. This river is navigable 
for flat-bottomed steamboats as far as Kyoto. In 

^ The word gawa (river) takes the form kawa when euphony so 
requires. 




7501 w®^m 

JAPANESE OF THE MYTHICAL EflA 

(i.e.prcvjouftlolhf cndsflho 4\^ century- «Aer Clirut 
CHINA WsliBATd olimMiid* 0»e enrt oflhc mj-Oiie*! 

.roa) 



The above legendary map is from Professor Chamberlain's translation of the Kojiki, as published in the suppletn' tit t<j vuluini x. 

of the Asiatic Society Transactions. 



THE JAPANESE ARCHIPELAGO. II 

the islands of Kyushu and Shikoku there are no 
large rivers ; but there are many streams which give 
to these islands their richness and fertility. 

The climate of Japan, as might be expected from 
its great stretch from north to south, and the varied 
circumstances of ocean currents, winds, and moun- 
tains, is very different in the different parts. The 
latitude of Tokyo is 35°, which is not very different 
from that of Cyprus in the Mediterranean, or the 
city of Raleigh in North Carolina. Besides the 
latitude of the islands of Japan, the most noticeable 
cause of their climatic condition is the Kuro Shiwo 
(black current). This current flows from the tropical 
regions near the Philippine islands, impinges on the 
southern islands, and is divided by them into two 
unequal parts. The greater part skirts the Japanese 
islands on their east coast, imparting to them that 
warm and moist atmosphere, which is one source of 
the fertility of their soil and beauty of their vegeta- 
tion. To this important cause must be added an- 
other, which is closely related to it in its effects. 
The Japanese islands are in the region of the north- 
east monsoon,^ which affects in a marked degree the 
climate of all parts over which the winds extend. 
The same monsoon blows over the eastern countries 
of the continent, but the insular character of Japan 
and the proximity of the warm current on both sides 
of the islands give to the winds which prevail a 
character which they do not possess on the con- 

^ Dr. Rein was the first clearly to apprehend and state the influence 
of the northeast monsoon on the climate of Japan. See Rein's 
Japan, p. 104. 



12 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

tinent. During the greater part of September the 
northern wind blows, which brings a colder temper- 
ature, condensing the moisture contained in the 
atmosphere. This month is therefore generally a 
rainy month. Gradually the atmosphere becomes 
more dry, and the beautiful autumn and early winter 
follow in course. 

The winter is very different in the different parts. 
On the east coast the temperature is very moderate. 
Even as far north as Tokyo the snow rarely falls to 
a depth of more than a few inches, and then rapidly 
melts away. Ice seldom forms to a thickness, even 
on protected waters, to permit skating. In all this 
region, however, snow covers the high mountains. 

On the west coast of the Main island the conditions 
are very different. The winds of the continent take 
up the moisture of the Japan sea, and carry it to 
the west coast, and then, coming in contact with high 
ranges of mountains which run down the middle of 
the island, impart their moisture in the form of rain 
in summer, and snow in winter. These circumstances 
produce extraordinary falls of snow on the west 
coast. This is particularly true of the provinces of 
Kaga, Noto, Etchu, Echigo, and even farther north, 
especially in the mountainous regions. In the 
northern part of these districts the snow is often as 
much as twenty feet deep during the winter months. 
The inhabitants are obliged to live in the second 
stories of their houses and often find it necessary to 
make steps from their houses out to the top of the 
snow. One effect of these deep snows is to cover up 
with a safe protection the shrubs and tender plants 



THE JAPANESE ARCHIPELAGO. 1 3 

which would otherwise be exposed to the chilling 
winds of winter. By this means the tea-shrub and 
the camellia, which could not withstand the open 
winter winds, are protected so as to grow luxuriantly. 

The southern islands are materially warmer than 
the Main island. The tropical current together with 
the warm sunshine due to their low latitude, im- 
merses them in a moist and warm atmosphere. 
Their productions are of a sub-tropical character. 
Cotton, rice, tobacco, sugar, sweet potatoes, oranges, 
yams, and other plants of a warm latitude, flourish 
in Kyushu and Shikoku. The high mountains and 
the well watered valleys, the abundance of forest 
trees, and wild and luxuriant vegetation,^ give to 
these islands an aspect of perennial verdure. 

The productions of the Main island are, as might 
be expected, far more various. In the southern 
part, especially that part bordering on the Inland 
sea, the productions are to a large extent similar to 
those in the southern islands. Rice and cotton are 
raised in great abundance. Tea flourishes particu- 
larly in the provinces near Kyoto and also in the 
rich valleys of the east coast. Silk-raising is a 
principal occupation. Nearly one half in value of 
all the exports from Japan is raw and manufactured 
silk, and a large part of the remainder is tea. The 
principal food raised in nearly all the islands is rice. 
The streams of water which abound everywhere 
make the irrigation which rice cultivation requires 
easy and effective. Besides the rice which is raised 

^ Camellia trees are frequently found from twenty to twenty-five 
feet high. 



14 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

in paddy land there is also a variety called upland 
rice. This grows without irrigation but is inferior 
to the principal variety in productiveness. In the 
early rituals of the Shinto temples prayers were 
always offered for the five cereals. These were 
understood to be rice, millet, barley, beans, and 
sorghum. All these have been cultivated from early 
times, and can be successfully raised in almost all 
parts of the islands. Rice cannot, however, be raised 
north of the Main island. Millet, barley, and beans 
are cultivated everywhere, and are the principal 
articles of food among the country population. 
Buckwheat is also cultivated in all northern parts. 
It is believed to have been introduced from Man- 
churia where it is found growing wild. 

The domestic animals of Japan are by no means 
so abundant as in the corresponding parts of the 
continent. The horse has existed here from antiquity 
but was only used for riding or as a pack-horse, but 
never until recently was used for driving. The cow, 
owing perhaps to the restrictive influence of the 
Buddhist doctrines, was never used for food. Even 
milk, butter, and cheese, which from time immemorial 
formed such important articles of food throughout 
Europe and among the nomadic peoples of Asi^, 
were never used. Sheep are almost unknown even 
to this day, and where they have been introduced 
it is only in very recent times and by foreign enter- 
prise. Goats are sometimes but not commonly 
found. On the island of Oshima,* off the province 
of Izu, they had multiplied to so great an extent 

^ Chamberlain, Asiatic Society Transactions , vol. xi., p. 162. 



THE JAPANESE ARCHIPELAGO. I 5 

and were so destructive to vegetation that about 
1850 the inhabitants combined to extirpate them. 
Swine are found in the Ryukyu islands, where they 
had been brought from China and they are found 
only incidentally- in other places when introduced by 
foreigners. Dogs and cats and barnyard fowl are 
found in all the islands. 

Wild animals are only moderately abundant, as is 
natural in a country so thickly inhabited. The black 
bear is found frequently in the well-wooded moun- 
tains of Yezo and the northern part of the Main 
island. The great bear, called also by the Japanese 
the red bear, and which is the same as the grizzly 
bear of North America, is also common in the Kurile 
islands and in Yezo. The wolf is sometimes found 
and the fox is common. The superstitions concern- 
ing the fox are as remarkable as those in the north 
of Europe, and have doubtless prevented its destruc- 
tion. Deer are found ia abundance in almost all 
parts of the islands. They are, however, most com- 
mon in Yezo where immense herds feed upon the 
plentiful herbage. 

The waters around Japan abound in fish. The 
coast is indented by bays and inlets which give 
opportunity for fishing. The warm currents flowing 
past the islands bring a great variety of fish which 
otherwise would not reach these islands. By far the 
most common article of food, other than vegetable, 
is the fish of various kinds and the shell-fish which 
are caught on the coasts and carried inland to almost 
all parts. 

The division of the empire into provinces i^kuni') 



l6 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

was an important step in practical administration, 
and it is often referred to in these pages. This divi- 
sion was first made by the Emperor Seimu A.D. 
1 31-190, when thirty-two provinces were constituted, 
The northern boundary of the empire was indicated 
by a line across the Main island from Sendai bay to 
a place on the west coast nearly corresponding to 
the present situation of Ni-igata. North of this line 
was the acknowledged territory of the Ainos, and 
even south of it were many tracts which were the 
disputed border. 

The Empress Jingo, after her return from the 
expedition against Korea in A.D. 303, introduced 
the Korean system of division, by constituting the 
home provinces and circuits. After some changes 
and subdivisions in subsequent times the apportion- 
ment was settled as follows : Gokinai or the five 
home provinces, viz. Yamashiro, Yamato, Kawachi, 
Izumi, and Settsu ; Tokaido^ or eastern sea circuit, 
15 provinces; Tozando, or eastern mountain circuit, 
eight provinces ; Sanindo, or mountain back circuit, 
eight provinces ; Sanyodo, or mountain front circuit, 
eight provinces ; and Saikaido, or western sea circuit, 
nine provinces ; in all sixty-eight provinces-. After 
the close of the war of restoration in 1868, the large 
territories in the north of the Main island represented 
by the provinces of Mutsu and Dewa, which had 
been conquered from the Ainos, were subdivided 
into seven provinces, thus making seventy-three. 
Still later the island of Yezo, with which were as- 
sociated the Kurile islands, was created a circuit 
under the name of Hok-kaido, or north sea circuit, 



THE JAPANESE ARCHIPELAGO. I7 

having eleven provinces, The number of existing 
provinces therefore is eighty-four. In recent times 
these eighty-four provinces have for administrative 
purposes been consoHdated into three imperial cities 
(fu), forty-seven prefectures (ken), and one territory 
(cho). The imperial cities (fu) are Tokyo, Osaka, 
and Kyoto ; the one territory (cho) comprises the 
island of Yezo and the adjacent small islands in- 
cluding the Kuriles ; and the prefectures (ke7i) have 
been formed from the provinces by combining and 
consolidating them in accordance with their con- 
venience and proximity. 

There are only a few large cities in Japan, but 
very many of a small size.* Tokyo,^ the capital, con- 
tains 1,803,584 inhabitants. Osaka, the second largest 
city, contains 1,026,767; Kyoto, the old capital, 379,409 ; 
Nagoya, 284,829; Kobe, 283,839; and Yokohama, 
324,775. There are eight cities containing as many as 
100,000 inhabitants. Besides these there are seven 
cities which have between 100,000 and 60,000; nine 
which have between 60,000 and 40,000, and twenty- 
five which have between 40,000 and 30,000. The 
number of smaller towns is very great. The division 
of the country into daimiates, and the maintenance 
of a daimyo town in each led to the establishment of 
many cities and large villages. 

^ These details of the population, area, etc., are taken from various 
government publications, and refer to the years 1903 and 1904 unless 
otherwise stated. 

2 In the population of the imperial cities is included that of the 
suburban districts politically attached to them. 



I8 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

The population of the empire of Japan is to a large 
extent massed in cities and villages. Even in the 
country, among the farmers, the people are gathered 
in settlements with wide spaces of cultivated and 
uncultivated land between. This is due in a great 
measure to the character of the crops and to the 
primitive nature of the cultivation. Rice, which is 
the most common crop, requires irrigation for its 
successful tillage. This limits the area occupied to 
the valleys and to those hillsides where the streams 
can be diverted to the rice fields. The area of land 
under actual cultivation is about 12,000,000 acres. 
It has been estimated that the average amount of 
land under cultivation is only three quarters of an 
acre for each of those engaged in farming. This 
amount seems to us very little and can only be 
explained by the character of the cultivation. The 
land almost always is made to bear two crops each 
year. As soon as one crop is cleared away, and often 
even before that, another is planted. 

According to official estimates in 1903, the popu- 
lation of the Japanese empire is as follows : 

Kwazoku (nobles) 4>55i 

Shizoku {samurai) 2,105,698 

Heimin (common people), . . . 41,648,868 

Total 43,759,117 

The population of the several large islands and 
their dependencies is given below from the statistics 
of 1903 : 



THE J A PA NESE ARCH I PE LA GO. 1 9 

Main island and dependencies .... 35»459>993 

Shikoku and dependencies 3,167,696 

KyushO and dependencies 7,260,834 

Hokkaido 843,615 

Total 46,732,138 

The population for 1906 is estimated at 48,610,00c 
or including Formosa, at 51,742,000. 





CHAPTER II. 

THE ORIGINAL AND SURVIVING RACES. 

In the present population of Japan there are two 
aistinct races, the Ainos and the Japanese. Of the 
former there is only a small number now remaining 
in the island of Yezo. There was also a remnant in 
the island of Saghalien, but in 1875, when a treaty 
was made with Russia ceding the Japanese claim 
to the southern half of Saghalien in exchange for 
the Kurile islands, permission was granted for all 
Japanese subjects who wished, to remove to the 
Japanese island of Yezo. Accordingly among other 
Japanese subjects seven hundred and fifty Ainos 
removed to the valley of the Ishikari, where they 
have continued to reside. 

The Ainos are probably the original race, who in 
early times inhabited the Main island down to the 
Hakone pass and possibly farther to the south. 
From Japanese history we learn that the military 
forces of the empire were constantly employed to 
suppress the disturbances caused by the barbarous 
people of the north. The necessity of this forcible 
repression, which frequently recurred, was a chief 
reason for the formation of a military class in the 

20 




AINO FAMILY, 



22 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

early history of Japan. One of the duties imposed 
on Yamato-dake by his imperial father (a.d. 71-130) 
was to chastise and subdue the Yemishi. This is the 
name by which the barbarous peoples of the north 
and east were known among the Japanese. Accord- 
ing to Chamberlain * in his translation of Kojiki, the 
Chinese characters with which the Yemishi is written 
mean Prawn Barbarians, in allusion to the long 
beards which make their faces resemble a prawn's 
head. The hairy people now known as Ainos are 
almost certainly referred to. The origin of the term 
Aino is unknown. By the Japanese it is believed 
to be derived from inu^ meaning a dog, and to have 
been bestowed on them in contempt. The name is 
not used by the Ainos themselves. In common 
with the inhabitants of the Kurile islands and the 
Japanese portion of Saghalien they call themselves 
Yezo. 

The present characteristics of the Ainos have led 
many to doubt whether they are really the descend- 
ants of the hardy barbarians who so long withstood 
the military power of the Japanese. But the effect of 
centuries of repression and conquest must be taken 
into account. The Ainos have become the peace- 
able and inoffensive people which we now find them, 
by many generations of cruel and imperious re- 
straint. That they should have become in this 
sequence of events a quiet and submissive people is 
not wonderful. The number of Ainos in the island 
of Yezo is given in 1880, which is the last census 
made of them, as 16,637'^; and this number is be= 

' Asiatic Society Transactions ^ supplement to vol. x., p. 213. 
^ Batchelor, Asiatic Society Transactions^ vol. x., p. 211, 



THE ORIGINAL AND SURVIVING RACES. 23 

lieved to be gradually decreasing. Travellers who 
have visited them unite in testifying to their great 
amiability and docility. Physically they are a sturdy 
and well developed race. The characteristic which 
has been noticed in them more than any other is the 
abundant growth of hair. The men have a heavy 
and bushy head of hair" and a full beard which is 
allowed to grow down to their chests. Other parts 
of the body are also covered with a growth which 
far surpasses that of the ordinary races. In the 
matter of food, clothing, houses and implements, 
they remain in the most primitive condition. In 
personal habits they are far less cleanly than their 
Japanese neighbors. Travellers' who have remained 
with them for many weeks assert that in all that 
time they never saw them wash either their persons 
or their clothes. 

They practise few arts. The making of pottery 
even in its rudest forms is unknown. All vessels in 
use are obtained by barter from the Japanese. Oc- 
casionally an old-fashioned Japanese matchlock gun 
is found among them, but mainly their hunting is 
carried on with bows and arrows. Their fishing is 
conducted with the rude apparatus which their an- 
cestors used. They have no written language, and 
even the pictorial writing, which has often been 
found among rude people, seems to be utterly un- 
known among them. Their religious ideas'^ are of 
the most vague and incoherent description. The ob- 
jects of worship are chiefly inanimate objects such as 
rivers, rocks and mountains. They seem to have a 

^ Batchelor, Asiatic Society Transactions^ vol. x., p. 2i6. 
^ Miss Bird's Unbeaten Tracks in Japan^ vol. ii., p. 96. 



24 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

certain fear of the spirit land. They do not readily 
talk about their deceased ancestors. Their places of 
burial are concealed, and foreigners rarely obtain 
access to them. 

In their rude superstitions the bear seems to have 
a singular part. Whether their traditions concern- 
ing this animal had their origin in some earlier fear 
of the bear as a ferocious neighbor it is impossible 
to determine. In every community the men capture 
each spring a young cub which they bring home. 
They entrust it to a woman who feeds it on the milk 
from her breast. When it is too old to be further 
nursed in this way, it is confined in a bear cage pro- 
vided for the purpose. Then in the autumn of the 
following year the grand bear festival is held. At 
an appointed signal the door of the cage is opened 
and the bear, which has been infuriated by hunger 
and teasing attacks, rushes out. The assembled 
hunters rush upon him with bows and arrows, clubs 
and knives, and after an exciting struggle despatch 
him. The carcass is cut in pieces and distributed 
among the families of the community, who feast 
upon it with great delight. Mingled with this rough 
and exciting scene is much sak^ drinking. This is 
one accomplishment which they have learned from 
the Japanese. The men are all confirmed saki drink- 
ers, and both men and women persistent smokers. 
Of the meaning and object of this bear feast the 
Ainos themselves are ignorant. It goes back to a 
period beyond their present traditions. Whether it 
has in it an element of bear worship it is impossible 
to learn. 



THE ORIGINAL AND SURVIVING RACES. 25 

The remains of the Stone age which are found in 
the northern part of the Main island are usually 
attributed to the Ainos. These remains have been 
collected and studied both by native scholars and 
by foreigners. Among the most important of them 
have been the articles found in shell heaps uncovered 
in different parts of the empire. The first ^ to which 
foreign attention was drawn was that at Omori, near 
Tokyo. Since then many others have been opened 
and many valuable finds have been reported. The 
shell heaps have evidently been used like kitchen- 
middens in Europe and elsewhere, as places for 
dumping the refuse of shell-fish used for food. 
These became places for the throwing of useless 
and broken articles used in the household, and thus 
have been the means of preserving many of the 
implements used in prehistoric times. The most 
significant discovery made in these shell heaps was 
that at Omori, of the bones of human beings arti- 
ficially broken in such a way as to indicate that can-r 
nibalism had been prevalent at the time. Whether 
this can be assumed as sufficient proof of so grave a 
charge has been disputed. It is claimed ^ that in at 
least seven similar shell heaps no human bones and 
no evidences of cannibalism were found. If how- 
ever the case is considered as sufficiently proved, it 
is clear from this as well as from many other circum- 
stances that the Ainos of that early day were by no 
means the mild and gentle race which we now find 

^ Professor E. S. Morse, Memoirs of the University of Tokio, 
vol, i., part i. 

2 Henry von Siebold, Notes on Japanese Archcsology^ p. I4» 



26 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

them. It is interesting to note that Marco Polo ' 
mentions cannibalism as one of the customs which 
were believed to exist in Japan in his day. 

Besides the Ainos there is evidence of the exist- 
ence of another savage tribe, which at an early date 
seems to have been found in many parts of the Main 
island, and at a later date in the island of Yezo and 
the Kurile islands on the north. They are the so- 
called pit-dwellers. In the very earliest writings of 
the Japanese we find references to them. They dug 
pits in the earth and built over them a roof, and 
used these pits or cellars as rooms in which to sleep. 
The Japanese conquerors in the central parts of 
the Main island had many conflicts with these pit- 
dwellers. And in the north and east they as well as 
the Ainos were encountered by the military forces 
of the empire. They were probably driven north 
by the more powerful Ainos and have almost disap- 
peared. Abundant evidence^ however is found in 
the island of Yezo of their previous existence. The. 
Ainos in their traditions call them Koro-pok-guru,^ 
or hole-men. Among the Japanese they are spoken 
of as Ko-bito, or dwarfs. There are said to be still 

' " But I must tell you one thing still concerning that island (Japan) 
(and 'tis the same with the other Indian Islands), that if the natives 
take prisoner an enemy who cannot pay a ransom, he who hath the 
prisoner summons all his friends and relations, and they put the pris- 
oner to death, and then they cook him and eat him, and they say there 
is no meat in the world so good ! " — The Book of Ser Marco Polo, 
London, 1875, vol. ii., p. 245. 

^ Professor Milne, Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan ^ 
vol. viii., p. 82. 

® Rev. John Batchelor, Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan^ 
vol. X,, p. 209. 



THE ORIGINAL AND SURVIVING RACES. 2J 

in Yezo the remains of villages where these men 
lived in earlier times. In the Kurile islands, in the 
peninsula of Kamtschatka, and in the southern part 
of Saghalien remnants of this primitive people are 
met with. 

Turning now to the Japanese race which extends 
from the Kurile islands on the north to the Ryukyu 
islands on the south, we see at once that it is a 
mixed race containing widely different elements. 
Even after the many centuries during which the 
amalgamation has been going on, we recognize still 
the varying types to which the individuals tend. In 
the south more than in the north, and-more among 
the ruling classes than in the laboring classes there 
are specimens of a delicate, refined appearance, face 
oval, eyes oblique, nose slightly Roman, and frame 
delicate but well proportioned. Then there is 
another type which has been recognized by all ob- 
servers. It is found more in the north than the 
south and is much more common among the labor- 
ing population than among the higher classes. The 
face is broad and the cheek bones prominent. The 
nose is flat and the eyes are horizontal. The frame 
is robust and muscular, but not so well proportioned 
and regular as in the former type. These two 
types with many intervening links are found every- 
where. The characteristics are perhaps more marked 
among the women than the men. Especially among 
the aristocracy the women have been less affected 
by weather and exposure and physical exertion than 
the men. In the regions about Kyoto and in the 
western portions of the Main island the prevalence 



28 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

of what may be called the aristocratic type is most 
marked. Even in the time of the Dutch trade 
with Japan, Kaempfer ^ refers to the women of Saga, 
on the south coast of the Inland sea, as *' handsomer 
than in any other Asiatic country." The northern 
regions, including the old provinces of Mutsu and 
Dewa, show a much larger element of the more 
robust type. The men are more muscular and of a 
darker complexion. Their faces are broader and 
flatter and their hair and beard more abundant. 
They show probably the influence of the admixture 
with the Aino race, which within historic times in- 
habited these provinces. 

Dr. Baelz, a German scholar who has spent many 
years in Japan, has devoted much study to the races 
of Japan, and has made elaborate measurements 
both of living specimens and skeletons. His conclu- 
sions may be safely followed, as having been reached 
by adequate study and by personal investigation.'* 
Mainly following him therefore we give briefly the 
results of the best thought In regard to the eth- 
nography of the races now inhabiting the Japanese 
islands. 

The Ainos of the present day are the descendants 
of the original occupants of northern and central 
portions of the Main island. Their share in the 
ancestry of the present Japanese people is not great, 
but still sensible, and has contributed to the per- 
sonal peculiarities which are found in the inhabitants 

* Hildreth's Japan, etc., p." 337. 

^ Mittheilungen der Deutschen Gesellschaft, etc., as reviewed in 
The Chrisanthemum, May, 1883^ 



THE ORIGINAL AND SURVIVING RACES, ?g 

of these regions. They probably came originally 
from the continent by way of the Kurile islands, or 
by the island of Saghalien. They belong to the 
northern group of the Mongolians who inhabit the 
regions about Kamtschatka and adjacent parts of 
Siberia. They have left marks of their occupancy 
on the Main island as far south as the Hakone pass, 
in the shell heaps, flint arrow-heads, and remains of 
primitive pottery which are still found. These 
marks indicate a low degree of civilization, and the 
persistence with which they withstood the Japanese 
conquerors, and the harshness and contempt with 
which they were always treated, have prevented them 
from mingling to any great extent with their con- 
querors or accepting their culture. 

The twofold character of the Japanese race as it is 
seen at present can best be explained by two exten- 
sive migrations from the continent. The first of 
these migrations probably took place from Korea, 
whence they landed on the Main island in the prov- 
ince of Izumo. This will account for the mytho- 
logical legends which in the early Japanese accounts 
cluster to so great an extent around Izumo. It will 
also explain why it was that when Jimmu Tenno 
came on his expedition from the island of Kyushu, 
he found on the Main island inhabitants who in all 
essential particulars resembled his own forces, and 
with whom he formed alliances. This first migra- 
tion seems to have belonged to a rougher and more 
barbarous tribe of the Mongolian race, and has given 
rise to the more robust and muscular element now 
found among the people. 



30 THE STORY OF JAPAN", 

The second migration may have come across by 
the same route and landed on the island of Kyushu. 
They may have marched across the island or skirted 
around its southern cape and spread themselves out 
in the province of Hyuga, where in the Japanese 
accounts we first find them. This migration prob- 
ably occurred long after the first, and came evidently 
from a more cultured tribe of the great Mongolian 
race. That they came from the same race is evident 
from their understanding the same language, and 
having habits and methods of government which 
were net a surprise to the new-comers, and in which 
they readily co-operated. On the contrary, the ruder 
tribes at the north of the Main island were spoken of 
as Yemishi, — that is, barbarians, and recognized from 
the first as different and inferior. 

While the natural and easiest route to Japan would 
be by way of the peninsula of Korea, and by the 
narrow straits about 125 miles in width, — divided 
into two shorter parts by the island Tsushima lying 
about half-way between, — it is possible that this 
second migration may have taken place through 
Formosa and the Ryukyu islands. This would per- 
haps account better for the Malay element which is 
claimed by many to be found in the population of 
the southern islands. This is attempted to be ac- 
counted for by the drifting of Malay castaways along 
the equatorial current upon the Ryukyu islands, 
whence they spread to the southern islands of Japan. 
But the existence of this Malay element is denied 
by many observers who have visited the Ryukyu 
islands and aver that among the islanders there is no 



THE ORIGINAL AND SURVIVING RACES. 3 1 

evidence of the existence at any time of a Malay im- 
migration, that the language is only slightly different 
from the Japanese, and in personal appearance they 
are as like to the Koreans and Chinese as the Japan- 
ese themselves. 

Some of the most important measurements which 
Dr. Baelz has made of the Japanese races are here 
given, converted into English measures for more 
ready comprehension. 

The average height of the males among the 
Japanese, as obtained by the measurements of skele- 
tons verified by measurements of living specimens, 
is 5.02 feet, ranging from 4.76 feet to 5.44 feet. The 
average height of the females measured was 4.66 
feet, ranging from 4.46 feet to 4.92 feet. Referring 
to the skulls measured by him he says that relatively 
they are large, as is always the case among people 
of small size. 

The measurements of the Ainos by Dr. Scheube 
as given by Dr. Rein ^ are : average height of males 
4.9 feet to 5.2 feet, and of females 4.8 feet to 5.0 
feet, which do not differ very greatly from the meas- 
urements of the Japanese as given by Dr. Baelz. 

' Rein's Japan^ p. 383. 



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CHAPTER III. 

MYTHS AND LEGENDS. 

The art of writing and printing was not intro- 
duced into Japan until A.D. 284, when it was brought 
from China. Up to that time therefore no written 
accounts existed or could exist of the early history 
of the country. Oral tradition was the only agency 
by which a knowledge of the events of that epoch 
could be preserved and transmitted. That such a 
method of preserving history ^ is uncertain and ques- 
tionable no one can doubt. We may expect to find 
therefore in the accounts which have come down to 
us of those centuries which transpired before written 
records were introduced, much that is contradictory 
and unintelligible, and much out of which the truth 
can be gleaned only by the most painstaking re- 
search. 

The oldest book of Japanese history which has 
come down to us is called Kojiki^ or Records of An- 

^ ' ' We know that for all points of detail and for keeping a correct 
account of time, tradition is worthless." — The History of Rome, by 
Rev. Thomas Arnold, D.D., 1864, p. 10. 

'^ For easy access to this valuable Japanese work we are indebted to 
the translation by Basil Hall Chamberlain, Transactions of the Asiatic 
Society of Japan ^ vol. x., Supplement. 

32 



MYTHS AND LEGENDS, 33 

cient Matters. This ^ork was undertaken by the 
direction of the Emperor Temmu (a.d. 673-686), who 
became impressed with the necessity of collecting 
the ancient traditions which were still extant, and 
preserving them in a permanent record. Before the 
work was ended the emperor died, and for twenty- 
five years the collected traditions were preserved in 
the memory of Hiyeda-no-are. At the end of that 
time the Empress Gemmyo superintended its com- 
pletion, and it was finally presented to the Court in 
A.D. 711. By a comparison of this work with Nihongi, 
or Chro7iicles ofjapan^ which was completed A.D. 720, 
only nine years after the other, we are convinced 
that the era of Chinese classicism had not yet fallen 
upon the country. The style of the older book is a 
purer Japanese, and imparts to us the traditions of 
Japanese history uncolored by Chinese philosophical 
ideas and classic pedantry which shortly after over- 
whelmed Japanese literature. But in many par- 
ticulars these two works, almost equally ancient, 
supplement and explain each other. The events 
given in the two are in most respects the same, the 
principal difference being that the Chronicles is 
much more tinctured with Chinese philosophy, and 
the myths concerning the creation especially show 
the influence of that dual system which had been 
introduced to give a philosophical aspect to the 
Japanese cosmogony. 

The ir<9;V/^^'' has been translated into English, to 

' See Chamberlain's translation of Kojiki, or Records of Ancient 
Matters, Transactions of the . Asiatic Society of Japan ^ vol. x., Sup- 
plement. 



34 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

which have been added a valuable introduction and 
notes. The Nihongi (Chronicles of Japan) has never 
been translated entire into English, but has been 
used by scholars in connection with the Kojiki. 
Among the Japanese it has always been more highly 
esteemed than the Kojiki, perhaps because of its 
more learned and classical style. 

Besides these two historical works the student of 
early times finds his chief assistance in the Shinto 
rituals ^ contained in a work called Yengishiki (Code 
of Ceremonial Law). They have been in part trans- 
lated by Mr. Satow, who for many years was the 
learned Japanese secretary of the British legation, 
and who read two papers on them before the Asiatic 
Society of Japan, and afterward prepared an article 
on the same subject for the Westminster Review^ 

It will be apparent from these circumstances that 
the knowledge of the earlier events, indeed of all 
preceding the ninth century, must be derived from 
tradition and cannot claim the same certainty as 
when based on contemporaneous documents. Not 
only the whole of the so-called divine age, but the 
reigns of the emperors from Jimmu to Richu, must 
be reckoned as belonging to the traditional period 
of Japanese history, and must be sifted and weighed 
by the processes of reason. 

Relying on the narratives of the Kojiki and the 
Nihongi, Japanese scholars have constructed a table 
of the emperors which has been accepted by the great 

^ Satow, " Ancient Japanese Rituals," Transactions of the Asiatic 
Society of Japan^ vols. vii. and ix. 

^ Satow, Westminster Review, July, 1 878. 



MYTHS AND LEGENDS, 35 

mass of the readers, both foreign and native. It will 
be found in the Appendix.' It must be remembered 
that the names of these early emperors, their ages at 
the time of accession and at the time of death, and 
the length of reign, must have all been handed down 
by tradition during almost a thousand years. That 
errors and uncertainties should have crept in seems 
inevitable. Either the names and order of the suc- 
cessive emperors, or the length of time during which 
they reigned would be liable to be misstated. If we 
examine the list of emperors^ we find that the ages 
at death of the first seventeen, beginning with Jimmu 
and ending with Nintoku, sum up 1853 years, with 
an average of 109 years ^ for each. The age of 
Jimmu is given as 127 years, of Koan 137 years, of 
Korei 128 years, of Keiko 143 years, of Nintoku, the 
last, no years, etc. Then suddenly the ages of the 
emperors from Richu onward drop to 6j, 60, 80, 56, 
etc., so that the ages of the seventeen emperors, begin- 
ning with Richu, have an average of only 6i|- years. 
This reasonable average extends down through the 
long series to the present time. It is plain that up 
to this time there must have existed a different sys- 
tem of reckoning the ages than that which pertained 
afterwards. Either the original epoch of the Em- 
peror Jimmu has been rendered more remote and 

^ See Appendix I, 

''■ Bramsen, Japanese Chronological Tables, p. 30. 

^ I remember presenting this point to a Japanese scholar in this 
way, and he answered me that he thought this great age of the Jap- 
anese emperors no more wonderful or unreasonable than the ages of 
the patriarchs in the Bible. 



36 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

the lives of the emperors have been prolonged to fill 
up the space, or, if we assume the epoch of Jimmu 
to be correct, we must suppose that a number of the 
emperors have been dropped from the count. 

The sudden depression in the ages occurs about the 
time of the introduction of writing from China, which 
occurred in A.D. 284. Wani, who came from Korea 
to Japan bringing continental culture with him, was 
appointed tutor to the heir-apparent who became 
the Emperor Nintoku. During his and subsequent 
reigns a knowledge of Chinese writing gradually 
spread, so that the annals of the Imperial court were 
kept in regular and stated order. This will account 
without difficulty for the sudden change and for the 
irregularity of the early chronology. 

Notwithstanding the almost absolute certainty 
of error which exists in the received Japanese chro- 
nology, it is by far more convenient to accept it in 
the form it is presented to us, and use it as if it were 
true. The early history must be treated as tra- 
ditional and only the later period from the beginning 
of the fourth century can be accepted as in any 
sense historical. Yet the events of the earlier period 
which have been preserved for us by oral tradition 
are capable with due care and inspection of furnish- 
ing important lessons and disclosing many facts in 
regard to the lives and characteristics of the primi- 
tive Japanese. 

In writing the history of Rome, Dr. Thomas Ar- 
nold ^ said that the only way to treat its early history 

' " I wished to give these legends at once with the best effect, and 
at the same time with a perpetual mark, not to be mistaken by the 



MYTHS AND LEGENDS. 37 

was to give the early legends in as nearly the form in 
which they had been handed down as possible ; that 
in this way the spirit of the people would be pre- 
served and the residuum of truth in them would 
become the heritage of the present generation. We 
have tried to treat the myths and legends of Japanese 
history in this manner, and have given the principal 
stories as they are preserved among the Japanese. 

The Origin of the Celestial Deities. 

The scene opens in the plain of high heaven. 
When heaven and earth began there were three 
deities ^ in existence, that is : 

Master-of-the-August-Centre-of-Heaven, 
High-August-Producing-Wondrous-Deity, 
Divine-Producing-Wondrous-Deity. 
These three came into existence without creation 
and afterwards died. 

Then two other deities were born from a thing 
that sprouted up like unto a reed shoot when the 
earth, young and like unto floating oil, drifted about 
medusa-like, viz. : 

Pleasant-Reed-Shoot-Prince-Elder-Deity, 
Heavenly-Externally-Standing-Deity. 
These two deities likewise came into existence with- 
out creation and afterward died. 

most careless reader, — they are legends and not history." — The 
History of Rome hj Thomas Arnold, D.D., 1864, Preface, p. vii. 

^ For the translation of these names, and for the principal events 
of these myths, we rely upon Mr. Chamberlain's translation of the 
Kojiki, and his admirable notes and introduction. Transactions of 
the Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. x.. Supplement. 



38 ' THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

The five deities above named are called the 
Heavenly Deities. 
Next were born, 

Earthly-Eternally-Standing-Deity, 
Luxuriant-Integrating-Master-Deity. 
These two deities likewise came into existence 
without creation and afterwards died. 
Next were born, 

Mud-Earth-Lord and Mud-Earth-Lady, 
Germ-Integrating-Deity and Life-Integrating- 

Deity, 
Elder-of-the-Great-Place and Elder-Lady-of-the 

Great-Place, 
Perfect-Exterior and Oh-Awful-Lady, 
The-Male-who-invites and The-Female-who-in- 
vites ; or Izanagi and Izanami. 
The two deities named above together with these 
five pairs are called the seven divine generations. 

The Creation of the Japanese Islands. 

Then the heavenly deities gave commandment to 
Izanagi and Izanami to make, consolidate, and give 
birth to this drifting land. For their divine mission 
they received a heavenly jewelled spear. With this, 
standing on the floating bridge of heaven, they reached 
down and stirred the brine and. then drew up the spear. 
The brine that dripped from the end of the spear was 
piled up and became the island of Onogoro ^ or Self- 
Coagulated Island. Then the pair descended upon 

' This is supposed to have been one of the small islands off the 
coast of Awaji in the Inland sea. 



MYTHS AND LEGENDS. 39 

this island and erected thereon a palace eight 
fathoms long. Here they lived and begat succes- 
sive islands. The first was the island of Hirugo, 
which, as it was a miscarriage, they put in a boat of 
bulrushes and let it float away. The second was the 
island of Awa, which also is not reckoned among their 
offspring. The next was the island of Awaji/ and 
the next the land of lyo by which is understood the 
present island of Shikoku. 

So in succession they produced the islands of Mi- 
tsugo, near the island of Oki, the island of Tsukushi, 
which is now called Kyushu, the island of Iki, the 
island of Tsu, and the island of Sado, and lastly the 
Great-Yamato-the-Luxuriant-Island - of - the-Dragon- 
Fly, which is supposed to mean the principal island^ 
named in these pages the Main island. Afterward 
they produced Kojima in Kibi, Oshima, the island 
of Adzuki, the island of Hime, the island of Chika, 
and the islands of Futago. 

Thus were finished the labors of this industrious pair 
in producing the islands of Japan. Then they turned 
to the duty of begetting additional deities, and thirty- 
five are named as their descendants. But as their 
names do not appear in the record of subsequent 
events, we omit them here. Finally the Deity of 
Fire was born, and the mother in giving birth to 
this child died and departed into hades. Izanagi 
was overwhelmed with grief at his wife's death. The 
tears which he shed turned into the Crying-Weeping- 
Female-Deity. In his madness he drew the ten- 

* An island about fifty miles long in the Inland sea. 



40 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

grasp ' sabre with which he was augustly girded, and 
cut off the head of the Deity of Fire. Three deities 
were born from the blood that stuck to the blade ; 
three were born from the blood that besprinkled the 
sword guard ; two were born from the blood which 
oozed out through his fingers as they grasped the 
hilt ; and eight were born from the head and trunk 
of the slaughtered deity. 

Descent into Hades. 

Then Izanagi resolved to follow his spouse into 
the land of hades. At the gate of the palace of 
hades she came out to meet him. After an inter- 
view with him she went back to seek the advice of 
the deities of hades. To her impatient husband 
she seemed to tarry too long. So he broke off the 
end-tooth of the comb stuck in his hair, and kindling 
it as a torch he went in. He was appalled by the 
dreadful pollution of the place, and by the loath- 
some condition of his spouse. He fled from the 
scene followed by the furious guards. By guile and 
by force, however, he escaped and came again to 
the upper regions. 

Purification of Izanagi, 

Then Izanagi, in order to purify himself from the 
pollution of hades, came to a small stream on the 
island of Tsukushi. So he threw down the august 
staff which he carried and it became a deity. He 

' This probably means that the sword was ten breadths of the hand 
in length. 



MYTHS AND LEGENDS, 4I 

took off his girdle and it became a deity. He threw 
down his skirt and it became a deity. And he 
took off his upper garment and it became a deity. 
And from his trousers which he threw down there 
was born a deity. Three deities were born from the 
bracelet which he took from his left arm, and three 
from the bracelet which he took from his right arm. 
Thus twelve deities were born from the things which 
he took off. 

Then he found that the waters in the upper reach 
were too rapid, and the waters in the lower reach 
were two sluggish. So he plunged into the waters of 
the middle reach. And as he washed, there were 
born successive deities, whose names it is not need- 
ful to mention. But when he washed his left 
august eye there was born from it the Heaven-Shin- 
ing-Great-August-Deity,* or as she is often called the 
Sun Goddess. 

When he washed his right august eye there was 
born His-Augustness-Moon-Night-Possessor. Then 
when he washed his august nose there was born His- 
Brave- Swift- Impetuous- Male- Augustness. Thus 
fourteen deities were born from his bathing. All 
these deities, as well as those before produced, seem 
to have come into being in full maturity, and did 
not need years of growth to develop their final 
powers. 

Izanagi was greatly delighted with the beauty and 
brilliancy of these last three children. He took 
from his neck his august necklace and gave it to the 

* The Japanese name of this most T'^enerated goddess is Ama- 
terasu-o-mi-kami. 



42 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

Sun Goddess, saying, Rule thou in the plains of high 
heaven. Then he gave command to the Moon- 
Night-Possessor, Rule thou the dominion of the 
night. 

And to His - Impetuous - Male - Augustness he 
commanded. Rule thou the plain of the sea. 
But His-Impetuous-Male-Augustness did not as- 
sume command of his domain, but cried and wept 
till his beard reached the pit of his stomach. Then 
Izanagi said to him, How is it that thou dost not 
take possession of thy domain, but dost wail and 
weep ? He replied, I weep because I wish to go to 
my mother in hades. Then Izanagi said, If that be 
so thou shalt not dwell in this land. So he expelled 
him with a divine expulsion (whatever that may 
mean). 

Visit of His ' Impetuous - Male - Augustness to tPie 
Heavenly Plains. 

Then His-Impetuous-Male-Augustness said, I 
will first take leave of my sister who rules in the 
plains of heaven. When the Sun Goddess saw her 
brother coming she put jewels in her hair and on 
her arms, slung two quivers of arrows on her back, 
put an elbow pad upon her left arm, and, brandishing 
her bow, she went out to meet him. She demanded 
of him why he ascended hither. Then he replied 
that he had no maUcious intentions; that his august 
father had expelled him with a divine expulsion, 
and that he had come to take leave of her before 
departing to the land of hades. 



MYTHS AND LEGENDS. 43 

Thereupon she proposed to him a test of his sin- 
cerity. They stood on opposite sides of the tran- 
quil river of heaven. She begged him to reach her 
his mighty sabre. She broke it into three pieces 
and crunched the pieces in her mouth, and blew the 
fragments away. Her breath and the fragments 
which she blew away were turned into three female 
deities. Then His-Impetuous-Male-Augustness took 
the jewels which she wore in her hair, and the jewels 
which she wore in her head-dress, and the jewels 
she wore on her left arm, and the jewels she wore on 
her right arm, and crunched them and blew them 
out, and they were turned into five male deities. 
Then the Sun Goddess declared that the three 
female deities which were produced from her 
brother's sword belonged to him, and the five male 
deities which were produced from her own jewels 
belonged to her. But His-Impetuous-Male-August- 
ness was angry at this decision, and broke down the 
fences of her rice fields, and filled up the water 
sluices, and defiled. her garden. And as she sat with 
her maidens in the weaving hall, he broke a hole in 
the roof and dropped upon them a piebald horse 
which he had flayed with a backward flaying.^ 

Retirement of the Sun Goddess. 

Then the Sun Goddess closed the door of the 
cave in which the weaving hall was, and the whole 
plain of heaven and the Central-Land-of-Reed-Plains 
were darkened, and night prevailed, and portents of 

* There seemed to have been an old superstition about flaying 
from the tail toward the head. 



44 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

woe were seen on every hand. Myriads of deities 
assembled in the bed of the tranquil river of heaven 
and besought the deity Thought-Includer, child of 
the High-August-Producing-Wondrous-Deity, the 
second of the original trio of deities, to propose a 
plan for inducing the Sun Goddess to reappear. 
They gathered the cocks of the barn-door fowl and 
made them crow ; they wrought a metal mirror ; 
they constructed a string of beautiful jewels ; they 
performed divination with the shoulder-blade of a 
stag ; they took a plant of Sakaki and hung on its 
branches the strmgs of jewels, the mirror, and offer- 
ings of peace. Then they caused the rituals to be 
recited, and a dance to be danced, and all the assem- 
bled deities laughed aloud. The Sun Goddess heard 
these sounds of merriment and was amazed. She 
softly opened the door and looked out, and asked 
the meaning of all this tumult. They told her it 
was because they had found another goddess more 
illustrious than she. At the same time they held 
before her luminous face the mirror which they had 
made. Astonished, she stepped out, and they shut 
and fastened the door behind her. And the plain 
of heaven and the Central-Land-of-Reed-Plains be- 
came light again. 

Then the assembled deities took council together, 
and caused His-Impetuous-Male-Augustness to be 
punished and expelled with a divine expulsion. ^ 

His-Impetuous-Male-Aiigustness in Izuino. 

So His-Impetuous-Male-Augustness came to the 
river Hi in Izumo. And he found there an old 



MYTHS AND LEGENDS. 45 

man and an old woman and a young girl, and they 
were weeping. And he asked them why they wept. 
And the old man answered. I once had eight 
daughters ; but every year an eight-forked serpent 
comes and devours one of them ; and now it is the 
time for it to come again. Then the deity said, 
Wilt thou give me thy daughter if I save her from 
the serpent ? And he eagerly promised her. Then 
the deity said, Do you brew eight tubs of strong 
sake, and set each on a platform within an enclosure. 
So they brewed and set the sake according to his 
bidding. Then the eight-forked serpent came and 
putting a head in each tub drank up all the sake, 
and being intoxicated therewith went to sleep. The 
deity then with his sabre hacked the serpent in 
pieces, and the blood flowed out and reddened the 
river. But when he came to the middle tail his sabre 
was broken, and when he searched he found that 
within the tail was a great sword which he took out. 
And this is the herb-quelling-great-sword. 

Then His-Impetuous-Male-Augustness built for 
himself a palace and dwelt there with his wife, and 
made the old man the master of his palace. 

Here follows a line of legends relating to the 
deities of the land of Izumo, which do not concern 
particularly our story, except that they show that 
Izumo was closely connected with the early migra- 
tions from the continent. It must be remembered 
that Izumo lies almost directly opposite to Korea, 
and that this would be a natural point to which 
the nomadic tribes of Asia would turn in seeking for 
new fields in which to settle. 



46 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

Plans for Pacifying the Land. 

Then the heavenly deities consulted together how 
they might pacify the lands of Japan. They sent 
down one of their number to report on its condition. 
But he went no farther than the floating bridge of 
heaven, and seeing the violence which prevailed he 
returned. Then they sent another ; but he made 
friends with the insurgent deities and brought back 
no report. Again they sent an envoy, who married 
the daughter of the insurgent deity, and for eight 
years sent back no report. After this they sent a 
pheasant down to inquire why a report was not sent. 
This bird perched on a cassia tree at the palace gate 
of the delinquent envoy, and he hearing its mourn- 
ful croaking shot it with an arrow, which fiew up 
through the ether and landed in the plains of heaven. 
The arrow was shot down again and killed the 
envoy. Finally two other envoys were sent down, 
who landed in Izumo, and after some parley with 
the refractory deities of the land received their 
adhesion and settled and pacified the land. Then 
they returned to the heavenly plains and reported 
that peace was established. 

Descent of the August Grandchild. 

The Central-Land-of-Reed-Plains * being now re- 
ported as peaceful, the heavenly deities sent His- 
Augustness - Heaven - Plenty-Earth-Plenty-Heaven's- 
Sun-Height-Prince-Rice-Ear-Ruddy-Plenty,^ who was 

' This is one of the ancient names of the Main island of Japan. 
2 The name of tt & prince of which the translation is here given is 
usually shortened to Ninigi-no-Mikoto. 



MYTHS AND LEGENDS. 47 

a grandson of Her-Augustness-the-Sun-Goddess, to 
dwell in and rule over it. There were joined to him 
in this mission ' the Deity-Prince-of-Saruta as his 
vanguard and five chiefs of companies. They gave 
him also the string of jewels and the mirror with 
which the Sun Goddess had been allured from the 
cave, and also the herb-quelling-great-sword which 
His - Augustness - the - Impetuous - Male - Deity had 
taken from the tail of the serpent. And they 
charged him saying, Regard this mirror precisely as 
if it were our august spirit, and reverence it as if 
reverencing us. 

Then His-Augustness-Heaven's-Prince-Rice-Ear- 
Ruddy-Plenty, taking leave of the plains of heaven, 
and pushing asunder the heavenly spreading clouds, 
descended upon the peak of Takachiho ^ in Tsukushi, 
a mountain which is still pointed out in the present 
island of Kyushu. And noting that the place was 
an exceedingly good country, he built for himself a 
palace and dwelt there. And he married a wife who 
was the daughter of a deity of the place, who bore 
him three sons whom he named Prince Fire-Shine, 
Prince Fire-Climax, and Prince Fire-Subside. 

Princes Fire-Shine and Fire-Subside. 

Now Prince Fire-Shine was a notable fisherman 
and Prince Fire-Subside was a hunter. And Prince 

' NaJcatomi-no-Muraji is also among these, who was the ancestor 
of the Fujiwara family that from the reign of the Emperor Tenji 
attained great political distinction. 

" Dr. Rein in 1875 was shown an old sword on the top of this 
mountain which is ciaimed to have been carried on this occasion. — 
Rein's Japan, p. 214, note. 



48 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

Fire-Subside said unto his elder brother, Let us ex- 
change our occupations and try our luck. And 
after some hesitation on the part of the elder 
brother the exchange was made. But Prince Fire- 
Subside was not successful and lost the fish-hook in 
the sea. Then Prince Fire-Shine proposed to his 
younger brother to exchange back the implements 
which they had used. But the younger brother 
said he had had no luck and had lost the hook in 
the sea. But Prince Fire-Shine was angry and 
demanded his hook. Then Prince Fire-Subside 
broke his sword into many fragments and made 
them into fish-hooks, which he gave to his brother 
in place of the one he had lost. But he would not 
receive them. Then he made a thousand fish-hooks 
and offered these. But he said, I want my original 
hook. 

And as Prince Fire-Subside was weeping by the 
sea shore the Deity Salt-Possessor came to him and 
asked him why he wept. He replied, I have ex- 
changed a fish-hook with my elder brother, and have 
lost it, and he will not be satisfied with any com- 
pensation I can make, but demands the original hook. 
Then the Deity Salt-Possessor built a boat and set 
him in it, and said to him. Sail on in this boat along 
this way, and you will come to a palace built of 
fishes' scales. It is the palace of the Deity Ocean- 
Possessor. There will be a cassia tree by the well 
near the palace. Go and sit in the top of that tree, 
and the daughter of the Ocean-Possessor will come 
to thee and tell thee what to do. 

So he sailed away in the boat and came to the 



MYTHS AND LEGENDS, 49 

palace of the Ocean-Possessor, and he climbed the 
cassia tree and sat there. And the maidens of the 
daughter of the Sea Deity came out to draw water, 
and saw the beautiful young man sitting i-n the tree. 
Then he asked them for some water. And they 
drew water and gave it to him in a jewelled cup. 
Without drinking from it he took the jewel from his 
neck and put it in his mouth and spat it into the 
vessel, and it clung to the vessel. So the maidens 
took the vessel and the jewel clinging to it into the 
palace to their mistress. And they told her that a 
beautiful young man was sitting in the cassia tree 
by the well. 

The Sea Deity then went out himself and recog- 
nized the young man as Prince Fire-Subside. He 
brought him into the palace, spread rugs for him to 
sit on, and made a banquet for him. He gave him 
his daughter in marriage, and he abode there three 
years. 

At last one morning his daughter reported to the 
Sea Deity that Prince Fire-Subside, although he had 
passed three years without a sigh, yet last night he 
had heaved one deep sigh. The Sea Deity asked 
him why he sighed. Then Prince Fire-Subside told 
him about his difficulty with his brother, and how 
he would accept no compensation for his lost fish- 
hook, but demanded the return of the original. 
Thereupon the Sea Deity summoned together all 
the fishes of the sea and asked them if any one of 
them had swallowed this hook. And all the fishes 
said that the tai had complained of something stick- 
ing in its throat, and doubtless that was the lost 



50 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

hook. The throat of the tai therefore being ex- 
amined, the hook was found and given to Prince 
Fire-Subside. 

Then the Sea Deity dismissed him to his own 
country, and gave him two jewels, a flow-tide jewel 
and an ebb-tide jewel. And he set him on the head 
of an immense crocodile and bade the crocodile con- 
vey him carefully and come back and make a report. 
And Prince Fire-Subside gave the recovered hook to 
his brother. But a spirit of animosity still dwelt in 
his heart, and he tried to kill his brother. Then 
Prince Fire-Subside threw out the flow-tide jewel, 
and the tide came in upon the Prince Fire-Shine and 
was about to drown him. And he cried out to his 
brother and expressed his repentance. Then Prince 
Fire-Subside threw out the ebb-tide jewel and the 
tide flowed back and left him safe. 

Then Prince Fire-Shine bowed his head before his 
younger brother, and said. Henceforth I will be thy 
guard by day and night, and will faithfully serve 
thee. 

And His- Augustness- Prince- Fire -Subside suc- 
ceeded his father and dwelt in the palace of 
Takachiho five hundred and eighty years. The 
place of his tomb is still shown on Mount Takachiho 
in the province of Hyuga of the island of Kyushu. 
And he left as his successor his son, whom the 
daughter of the Sea Deity had borne him. And 
this son was the father of His-Augustness-Divine- 
Yamato-Iware-Prince, who is known to posterity by 
his canonical name of Jimmu, the first emperor of 
Japan. 



CHAPTER IV. 

FOUNDING THE EMPIRE. 

We have now come to the time when the move- 
ments which resulted in the estabHshment of the 
empire of Japan took place. The events are still 
overlaid with myth and legend, which could only 
have been transmitted by oral tradition. But they 
have to do with characters and places which are tied 
to the present by stronger cords than those of the 
divine age. What the events really were which are 
involved in the myths of the preceding chapter it is 
impossible to predicate. That the celestial invasion 
of the island of Kyushu means the coming thither 
of a chief and his followers from the continent by 
way of Korea seems most reasonable. The inter- 
mixture of Izumo with these legends may mean 
that another migration of a kindred race took place 
to that part of the Main island. The easy access to 
both Izumo and Kyushu from Korea makes these 
migrations the natural explanation of the landing 
of the Japanese upon these fertile and tempting 
islands. 

Without settling the difficult ethnographical ques- 
tions which are involved in this problem, we propose 
• 51 



52 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

to follow the Kyushu invaders into the Main island. 
We will note the slow and laborious steps by which 
they proceeded to establish a government, which 
through many changes and emergencies continues 
to this day. 

The Prince, whom we will continue to call Jimmu,^ 
had an elder brother, Prince Itsu-se, who seems, how= 
ever, to have been less active and energetic than the 
younger. At least, even from the first it is Prince 
Jimmu who is represented as taking the initiative in 
the movements which were now begun. The two 
brothers consulted together and resolved to conduct 
an expedition towards the east. It will be remem- 
bered that their grandfather had established his 
palace on Mount Takachiho, which is one of the two 
highest peaks in Kyushu, situated in the prov- 
ince of Hyuga, nearly in the middle of the southern 
extension of the island of Kyushu. It was from 
this place that the two brothers started on their ex- 
pedition. It was no doubt such an expedition as 
the Norse Vikings of a later day often led into the 
islands of their neighbors. They had with them a 
force composed of the descendants of the invaders 
who had come with their grandfather from the con- 
tinent. They marched first through the country 
called Toyo, which was a luxuriant and fertile re- 
gion on the northeast part of the island. Thence 
they marched to the palace of Wokada, situated in 

^ This canonical name was given to him in the reign of the 
Emperor Kwammu, who commanded Mifune-no-Mikoto to select 
suitable canonical names for all past emperors, and these have since 
been used. 



FOUNDING THE EMPIRE. 53 

a district of the island of Tsukushi, lying on the 
northwest coast facing Tsushima and the peninsula 
of Korea, and bordering on the straits of the Inland 
sea. Here they remained a year and probably 
built the boats by which they crossed the Inland sea. 

From Tsukushi they crossed to the province of 
Aki in the Main island on the coast of the In- 
land Sea, where it is said they remained seven years. 
The progress seems like that of the hordes of the 
Goths in the early ages of European history. It 
was not merely a military expedition, but a migra- 
tion of a tribe with all its belongings, women and 
children, old men and old women, and household 
and agricultural effects. The military band under 
Prince Jimmu and his brother formed the vanguard 
and protection of the tribe. During their seven 
years' sojourn in Aki they were compelled to resort 
to agriculture as well as fishing for their support. 

Then they skirted along the north coast of the 
Inland sea to Takashima in the province of Kibi. 
Thence they crept with their awkward boats east- 
ward among the luxuriant islands. They met a 
native of the coast out in his boat fishing and en- 
gaged his services as a guide. He conducted them 
to Naniwa, which now bears the name of Osaka, 
where they encountered the swift tides and rough 
sea which navigators still meet in this place. Finally 
they landed at a point which we cannot recognize, 
but which must have been in the neighborhood of 
Osaka at the mouth of the Yodo river. 

Here their conflicts with the natives began. The 
whole region seems to have been occupied by tribes 



54 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

not unlike their own, who had probably come thither 
from the settlements in Izumo. The first to dispute 
their progress was Prince Nagasune (Long Legs), 
of Tomi, who raised an army and resisted the land- 
ing of the invaders. It was in the battle that ensued 
at this place that Prince Itsu-se, the elder brother, 
received a wound in his hand from an arrow shot by 
Prince Nagasune. The reason given reveals a curi- 
ous superstition which seems to have prevailed from 
this early time. The Japanese prince on receiving 
the wound exclaims, ^' It is not right for me, an 
august child of the Sun Goddess, to fight facing the 
sun. It is for this reason that I am stricken by the 
wretched villain's hurtful hand." Prince Itsu-se, after 
a few days, died from the effects of the wound. He 
is buried on mount Kama in the province of Kii. 

It is needless to recount all the legends which 
cluster around this invasion of the central provinces 
of Japan; about the wild boar which came out of 
the mountains near Kumano, before which Prince 
Jimmu and all his warriors fell down in a faint; 
about the miraculous sword which was sent down 
from the heavenly plains to aid him in subduing the 
Central-Land-of-Reed-Plains ; about a crow eight feet 
long which was sent to guide him in his expedi- 
tion, and about the deities with tails who in several 
places were enco.untered. To our conception they 
seem meaningless, and do not in any measure con- 
tribute to the progress of the story. They bear 
evidence of a later invention, and do not belong 
legitimately to the narrative. 

At Uda, on the east coast of the Yamato penin- 



FOUNDING THE EMPIRE. 55 

sula, there lived two brothers named Ukashi. The 
elder brother undertook to deceive Prince Jimmu, 
and set a trap in which to capture and slay him. 
But the younger brother revealed the plot, where- 
upon the followers of Prince Jimmu compelled the 
traitor to retreat into his own trap, where they killed 
him. The younger brother was honored and re- 
warded by Jimmu, and appears afterward among 
the hereditary princes of the country. 

Again, as he was making his progress through the 
country Prince Jimmu came upon a company of the 
savages known as pit-dwellers,^ whom the Kojiki 
calls earth-spiders, and describes them as having 
tails. There appear to have existed at this period 
remnants of these tribes as far south as the 35th 
parallel. At a later period they were driven out by 
the Ainos, and nothing but some of their relics now 
exists, even in Yezo. The peculiarity by which they 
were known was, that they lived in a sort of pit dug 
out of the earth in the sides of the mountains, over 
which they built a roof of limbs and grass. In the 
present case there were eighty of the warriors of 
this tribe. Prince Jimmu made a banquet for them 
in one of their pits and assigned an equal number of 
his own men to act as attendants. Each of these 
attendants was girded with a sword. Then from a 
post outside he sang a song,^ and at a given signal 

* See Milne's paper on " Pit-Dwellers of Yezo and Kurile Islands," 
Transactions of the Asiatic Society of yapan, vol. x., p. 187. 

"A large number of songs are handed down in the traditions of this 
period. They are in the most ancient form of the language and are 
not easy to translate. We give as a specimen Jimmu's song from 



56 THE STORY OF JAP AM. 

in this song the eighty attendants fell upon the 
eighty earth-spiders and slew them all. 

Thus having subdued all opposing forces and 
brought the country into subjection, Prince Jimmu 
established himself in a palace built for him at Kashi- 
wara in the province of Yamato. This is usually 
regarded by Japanese historians as the beginning of 
the empire, and the present era * is reckoned from 
this establishment of a capital in Yamato. From 
the record of the length of the reigns of the several 
emperors contained in the Kojikiy and the Nihongi, 
and later books, the date of the accession of the 
Emperor Jimmu is fixed at 660 B.C. We have given 
elsewhere^ our reason for believing the record of 
the early reigns of doubtful authenticity. Never- 
theless, as it is impossible to propose a definite 
change, it is better to use the accepted scheme with 
its admitted defects. 

Chamberlain's translation of Kojikiy Asiatic Society Transactions, 

vol. X., Supplement, p. 142. 

Into the great cave of Osaka people have 
entered in abundance and are there. 
Though people have entered in abundance 
and are there, the children of the augustly 
powerful vi^arriors vi^ill smite and finish them 
with their mallet-headed swords, their 
stone-mallet swords : the children of the 
augustly powerful warriors, with their 
mallet-headed swords, their stone- 
mallet swords, would now do well to 
smite. 
' For example, the organization of a parliament took place in iSgc 

which in the Japanese reckoning would be 2550 from Jimmu's setting 

up his capital in Yamato. 
2 See p. 32. 



FOUNDING THE EMPIRE. 5/ 

The Emperor Jimmu after his accession continued 
to reign seventy-five years and, according to the 
Kojikiy died at the age of one hundred and thirty- 
seven. The Nihoitgi, however, gives his age at 
death as one hundred and twenty-seven, and this 
has been adopted by the government in its pubHshed 
chronology.' His burial place is said to be on the 
northern side of mount Unebi in the province of 
Yamato. It is just to assign to the Emperor Jimmu 
the exalted place which the Japanese claim for him 
in their history. That he was a prince of high en- 
terprise is evident from his adventurous expedition 
from the home of his family into the barbarous and 
unknown regions of the Main island. He accom- 
plished its conquest with less slaughter and cruelty 
than the customs of the times seemed to justify. 
He made it his policy to effect terms with the native 
princes and seek their co-operation in his government. 
He extended his sway so that it covered Anato, now 
known as Nagato, and Izumo on the west, and 
reached probably to Owari on the east. All this 
time he had held a firm hand on the island from 
which he had come, so that few if any outbreaks 
occurred among its restless Turanian or native in- 
habitants. 

The Emperor Jimmu was succeeded by his third 
son, known by his canonical name as the Emperor 
Suizei. The reigning emperor, it seems, exercised 
the right to select the son who should succeed him. 
This was not always the oldest son, but from the 
time he was chosen he was known as taishi, which is 

* See list of emperors, Appendix I. 



58 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

nearly equivalent to the English term crown prince. 
The Emperor Suizei, it is said, occupied a palace at 
Takaoka, in Kazuraki, in the province of Yamato. 
This palace was not far from that occupied by his 
father, yet it was not the same. And in the reigns 
of the successive sovereigns down to A.D. 709, when 
the capital was for a time established at Nara, we 
observe it as a most singular circumstance that each 
new emperor resided in a new palace. In the first 
place, the palace spoken of in these early times was 
probably a very simple structure. Mr. Satow, in his 
paper' on the temples at Ise, gives an account of the 
form and construction of the prehistoric Japanese 
house. The Shinto temple in its pure form is prob- 
ably a survival of the original palace. Before the 
introduction of edge-tools of iron and boring im- 
plements or nails, the building must have been 
constructed in a very primitive fashion. It will be 
understood that stone or brick were never used. 
Wood was the only material for the frame. The 
roof was thatched with rushes or rice straw. The 
pure Shinto temples of modern times are built with 
the utmost simplicity and plainness. Although 
the occasion for adhering to primitive methods has 
long since passed away, yet the buildings are con- 
formed to the styles of structure necessary before 
the introduction of modern tools and appliances. 
To build a new palace therefore for a new emperor 
involved by no means such an outlay of time and 
work as might be imagined. 

' Satow, Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. ii., 
p. 113. 



FOUNDING THE EMPIRE. 



59 



It is not improbable that when a young man was 
chosen crown prince he had an estabhshment of his 
own assigned to him, and this became his palace 
which he occupied when he became emperor. When 
a man died, and especially when an emperor died, it 




SHINTO TEMPLE. 



was an ancient custom to abandon his abode. It 
became unclean by the presence in it of a dead body, 
and therefore was no longer used. 

Nothing is narrated of the immediate successors 
of the Emperor Jimmu of importance to this story. 



6o THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

The accounts contained in either of the oldest his. 
tories relate merely to the genealogies of the several 
sovereigns. 

The Emperor Suizei was, as we have seen, the 
third son of Jimmu and reigned thirty-two years, 
dying at the age of eighty-four/ 

The third emperor was Annei, the only son of the 
Emperor Suizei. He reigned thirty-seven years and 
died at the age of fifty-seven. 

The fourth emperor was Itoku, the oldest son of 
the Emperor Annei. He reigned thirty-three years 
and died at the age of seventy-seven. 

The fifth emperor was Kosho, the oldest son of 
the Emperor Itoku. He reigned eighty-two years 
and died at the age of one hundred and fourteen 
years. 

The sixth emperor was Koan, the oldest son of 
the Emperor Kosho. He reigned one hundred and 
one years and died at the age of one hundred and 
thirty-seven. 

The seventh emperor was Korei, the second son 
of the Emperor Koan. He reigned seventy-five 
years and died at the age of one hundred and twenty- 
eight. 

The eighth emperor was Kogen, the oldest son of 
the Emperor Korei. He reigned fifty-six years and 
died at the age of one hundred and sixteen. 

The ninth emperor was Kaikwa, a younger son 
of the Emperor Kogen. He reigned fifty-nine years 
and died at the age of one hundred and eleven. 

' We follow in these figures the chronology which has been author- 
iied by the government. Appendix I. 



FOUNDING THE EMPIRE, 6l 

The tenth emperor was Sujin, a younger son 
of the Emperor Kaikwa. He reigned sixty-seven 
years and died at the age of one hundred and nine- 
teen. It is narrated that during his reign a pesti- 
lence broke out which was so severe that the country 
was almost depopulated. The emperor was greatly 
disturbed by this calamity, and there appeared to 
him in the night a divine vision. The Great Deity, 
the Great Master of Things, appeared and revealed 
to him, that if he would cause him to be appropri- 
ately worshipped the pestilence would cease. The 
worship was accordingly ordained and executed, and 
the pestilence forthwith abated. 

In this reign expeditions were also sent into the 
northwestern and northeastern districts of the Main 
island to repress the. disturbances which had arisen. 
The reports from these expeditions were in each 
case favorable, and the whole empire was in a condi- 
tion of quiet and prosperity, such as had not before 
existed. Taxes were for the first time levied on the 
proceeds of the chase and on the handiwork of the 
women. Reservoirs for the collection of water, used 
in the irrigation of the rice crops, were constructed 
in the imperial provinces, and encouragement was 
everywhere given to the growing industries of the 
country. 

The Emperor Sujin was succeeded by his younger 
son who is known as the eleventh emperor under the 
name of Suinin. He is said to have reigned ninety- 
nine years, and to have died at the age of one 
hundred and forty-one. 

A conspiracy came near ending the life of this 



62 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

emperor. A brother of the empress was ambitious 
to attain supreme authority. He approached his 
sister with the subtle question, Which is dearer to 
thee, thine elder brother or thy husband ? She re- 
plied, My elder brother is dearer. Then he said. 
If I be truly the dearer to thee, let me and thee rule 
the empire. And he gave her a finely tempered 
dagger and said to her. Slay the emperor with this 
in his sleep. So the emperor, unconscious of danger, 
was sleeping one day with his head on the lap of the 
empress. And she, thinking the time had come, 
was about to strike him with the dagger. But her 
courage failed her, and tears fell from her eyes on 
the face of the sleeping emperor. He started up, 
awakened by the falling tears, and said to her, I 
have had a strange dream. A violent shower came 
up from the direction of Saho and suddenly wet my 
face. And a small damask-colored snake coiled 
itself around my neck. What can such a dream 
betoken? Then the empress, conscience-stricken, 
confessed the conspiracy with her brother. 

The emperor, knowing that no time was to be lost, 
immediately collected a force of troops and marched 
against his brother-in-law. He had entrenched him- 
self behind palisades of timber and awaited the 
emperor's attack. The empress, hesitating between 
her brother and her husband, had made her escape 
to her brother's palace. At this terrible juncture 
she was delivered of a child. She brought the child 
to the palisades in sight of the emperor, and cried 
out to him to take it under his care. He was deeply 
moved by her appeal to him and forthwith planned 



FOUNDING THE EMPIRE. 63 

to rescue both the child and its mother. He chose 
from among his warriors a band of the bravest and 
most cunning, and commanded them, saying, When 
ye go to take the child, be sure that ye seize also the 
mother. 

But she, fearing that the soldiers would try to 
snatch her when they came for the child, shaved off 
her hair and covered her head with the loose hair as 
if it were still adhering. And she made the jewel- 
strings around her neck and arms rotten, and she 
rendered her garments, by which they might catch 
hold of her, tender by soaking them in sake. 
When the soldiers came to her she gave them the 
child and fled. Then they seized her by the hair 
and it came away in their hands ; and they clutched 
at the jewel-strings and they broke ; and then they 
grasped her garments, but they had been rendered 
tender and gave way in their hands. So she escaped 
from them and fled. Then they went back to the 
emperor and reported that they had been unable to 
capture the mother, but they had brought the babe. 
The emperor was angry at what the soldiers told 
him. He was angry at the jewellers who had made 
the rotten jewel-strings and deprived them of their 
lands. He called to the empress through the burn- 
ing palisades around the palace — for the soldiers 
had set fire to the palace — saying, A child's 
name must be given by its mother ; what shall be 
the name of this child ? And she answered. Let it 
be called Prince Homu-chiwake. And again he 
called : How shall he be reared ? She replied. Take 
for him a foster-mother and bathing woman who 



64 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

shall care for him. Then he asked again, saying i 
Who shall loosen the small, fresh pendant which you 
have tied upon him ? And she gave directions con- 
cerning this also. Then the emperor paused no 
longer, but slew the rebellious prince in his burning 
palace, and the empress perished with her wicked 
brother. 

Following this is a long legend concerning this 
child which was dumb from its birth, and how he 
was sent to worship at the temple of the deities of 
Izumo, and how he miraculously attained the power 
of speech and was brought back to his father. 

It was during the reign of this emperor also that 
Tajima-mori was sent to China to fetch specimens 
of the orange-tree for introduction into Japan. He 
returned with them, but when he reached the capital 
the emperor was dead. The messenger was shocked 
and brought the specimens of the orange-tree to the 
burial place of the emperor, where he died from grief. 

Up to this time it seems to have been the cruel 
custom to bury with the deceased members of the 
imperial family, and perhaps with others of high 
rank, the living retainers and horses who had been 
in their service. It is said that when the emperor's 
younger brother died (B.C. 2) they buried along with 
him his living retainers, placing them upright in a 
circle around him and leaving their heads uncovered. 
Night and day were heard the agonizing cries of 
these thus left to die of starvation. The emperor 
was greatly moved and resolved that this terrible 
custom should be abolished. Four years later the 
empress herself died, and the emperor called together 



FOUNDING THE EMPIRE. 6$ 

his counsellors to propose some plan by which this 
practice of living sacrifices could be avoided. There- 
upon one of his counsellors, Nomi-no-Sukune, ad- 
vanced and begged the emperor to listen to a scheme 
which he had to present. He suggested that, instead 
of burying the living retainers with their master or 
mistress, clay images of men and women and horses 
be set up in a circle around the burial place. The 
plan pleased the emperor vastly, and images were at 
once made and buried around the dead empress. 
As a mark of his high appreciation Nomi-no-Sukune 
was. appointed chief of the clay-workers guild. 

It appears probable that this cruel usage of bury- 
ing living retainers with their dead master was not 
entirely ended by this substitution of clay images. 
As late as A.D. 646 the emperor found it necessary 
to prescribe regulations for funerals and to forbid 
the burial of. living retainers. Mr. Satow ' has given 
a most interesting account of this edict which per- 
tains not only to the practice of burial of retainers, 
but also to the size of vaults and mounds and the 
number of laborers who might be employed in pre- 
paring the structure. 

The images used as a substitute for living retain- 
ers w^ere called Tsuchio Ningio (clay images). They 
have been found in many parts of the country, espe- 
cially in the home provinces where the burial of the 
imperial families and the connected nobility took 
place. This burying of images seems to have died 
out about A.D. 700. Its discontinuance probably 

' E. M. Satow, "Ancient Sepulchral Mounds in Kaudzuke," 
Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan ^ vol. viii., pp. ii, 330. 



66 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

was owing to the growing prevalence of Buddhism 
which discountenanced a custom founded on a re- 
hgion anterior to it. 

The Emperor Suinin was succeeded by his younger 
son Keiko who became the twelfth emperor. He 
reigned fifty-nine years, and died at the age of one 
hundred and forty-three. His son, Prince 0-usu, 
who afterward was known as Yamato-dake, is rep- 
resented as pursuing a most daring and romantic 
career. The myths concerning him are among the 
most picturesque in Japanese history. 

The first adventure narrated of him was regarding 
his elder brother. His father asked him, Why does 
not thy elder brother make his appearance at the 
imperial banquets ? Do thou see after this and 
teach him his duty. 

A few days after his father said again to him, 
Why dost not thy brother attend to his duty? 
Hast thou not warned him as I bade thee? 

The young prince replied that he had taken that 
trouble. Then his father said. How didst thou 
take the trouble to warn him ? And the prince 
coolly told him that he had slain him and thrown 
his carcass away. 

The emperor was alarmed at the coolness and 
ferocity of his son, and bethought how he might 
employ him advantageously. Now there were at 
Kumaso in Kyushu two brothers, fierce and rebel- 
lious bandits, who paid small respect to the imperial 
wishes. The emperor conceived that it would be a 
fitting achievement for his fearless son to put an 
end to these reckless outlaws. So Yamato-dake bor- 




BUJ?.IED IMAGES. 
From Japanese A r^hceology^ by Henry voij Siebold. 



68 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

rowed from his aunt her female apparel, and hiding 
a sword in the bosom of his dress, he sought out the 
two outlaws in their hiding-place. They were about 
to celebrate the occupancy of a new cave which they 
had fitted up for themselves. They had invited a 
goodly number of their neighbors, and especially 
of the female sex. Prince Yamato-dake, who was 
young and fresh-looking, put on his female disguise 
and let down his hair which was still long. He 
sauntered about the cave and went in where the two 
outlaws were amusing themselves with their female 
visitors. They were surprised and delighted to see 
this new and beautiful face. They seated her be- 
tween them and did their best to entertain her. 

Suddenly, when the outlaws were off their guard, 
he drew his sword from his bosom and slew the elder 
brother. The younger rushed out of the door of the 
cave, the prince close at his heels. With one hand 
he clutched him by the back and with the other 
thrust him through with his sword. As he fell he 
begged the prince to pause a moment and not to 
withdraw his sword from his fatal wound. 

Then the outlaw said, Who art thou ? And he 
told him and for what purpose he had come. 

The outlaw said, There were in the west none so 
brave as we two brothers. From this time forward 
it shall be right to praise thee as the August Child 
Yamato-dake (the bravest in Yamato). 

As soon as he had said this, the prince " ripped 
him up like a ripe melon." ' 

' Chamberlain's translation of Kojiki, — Transactions of the Asiatic 
Society of Japan ^ vol. x., Supplement, p. 208. 



FOUNDING THE EMPIRE. 69 

Then after he had subdued and pacified the rebel- 
lious princes of the districts about the straits of 
Shimonoseki he returned to the emperor and made 
his report. 

Following this account of Yamato-dake's adven- 
tures in the West, there are given the interesting tra- 
ditions concerning his expedition to the East, and his 
encounters with the Ainos, who inhabited the north- 
ern part of the island. That there was a basis of 
fact to these traditions there cannot be a doubt. Yet 
the events have such an air of fable and poetry that 
it is impossible to separate the fact from the legend. 
As we have done in previous instances, we give the 
stories in their essential entirety, leaving to scholars 
hereafter the task of winnowing the grains of fact 
out of the chaff which the imagination of the race 
has left for us. 

Prince Yamato-dake took on his expedition to the 
East the Prince Mi-suki-tomo-mimi-take. The em- 
peror gave him these instructions : '' Subdue and 
pacify the savage deities, and likewise the unsubmis- 
sive people of the twelve roads ^ of the East." 

Prince Yamato-dake first visited the temple of the 
Sun Goddess in Ise, where he worshipped at the 
shrine of his great ancestress. He must have had a 
presentiment that he never would return alive from 
this expedition. His aunt Yamato-hime,'' who was 

' The roads or circuits here spoken of refer to the roads constructed 
by the government along contiguous provinces and used for the 
passage of troops and other government purposes. These circuits 
have continued in use down to the present time. 

^ Yamato-hime or Yamato-princess had been appointed high priest«= 



70 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

the priestess of this temple, gave him on his depar- 
ture the sword' which the Impetuous-Male-Deity 
discovered in the tail of the snake which he slew in 
Izumo. She also gave him a bag which he was not 
to open until he found himself in pressing difficulty. 
He came to the land of Owari, and appears there 
to have been smitten by the charms of the Princess 
Miyazu. And, planning to wed her on his way back, 
he plighted to her his troth and went on. Then he 
came to the province of Sagami, where he met the 
chief of the land. But he deceived him and said that 
in the midst of a vast moor there is a lagoon where 
lives a deity. Yamato-dake went over the moor to 
find the deity. Whereupon the chief set fire to the 
grass, expecting to see him consumed. But Yamato- 
dake seeing his danger, and being assured that the 
time of pressing difficulty had come, opened the 
bag which his aunt, Yamato-hime, had given him. 
There he found a fire drill,'^ with which a fire could 
be struck. He cut away the grass around him with 
the sword which had been given him, and then set 
fire to the moor. When he was safe from the fire 
he sought out and slew the traitorous chief and all 
the chiefs who were associated with him. 

ess of the temples in Ise, and in that capacity had charge of the im- 
perial regalia which were deposited there. She is a very celebrated 
person in Japanese legendary story and is said to have lived several 
hvmdred years. 

See Chamberlain's translation of Kojiki, p. 183, note 7 ; Asiatic 
Society Transactions , vol. x., Supplement. 

' See p. 45. 

^ See Satow's paper on the use of the fire drill in Japan, Titans- 
actions of Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. vii., p. 223. 



FOUNDING THE EMPIRE. yi 

From Sagami he undertook to cross in a boat the 
waters of Yedo bay to Kazusa opposite. But the 
sea was rough and they were on the point of being 
overwhelmed and drowned. Then his wife, the 
Princess Oto-Tachibana, who accompanied him on 
this expedition, threw out mats from the boat, and 
saying, '' I will enter the sea instead of the prince ; 
you must finish the task on which you are sent," she 
sprang from the boat and sat down on the mats^ she 
had thrown out. Immediately the waves were 
quiet and the boat sailed on in safety. And the 
comb of the princess was washed ashore, and the 
people built for it a sacred mausoleum in which it 
was kept. 

Then Prince Yamato-dake penetrated the regions 
occupied by the Ainos^ and subdued them. Hav- 
ing accomplished this principal object of his un- 
dertaking, he returned by way of the Usui pass 
opposite to mount Fuji. As he stood in this lofty 
position and looked out on the sea where his wife 
had sacrificed herself for his safety,* he cried out : 
" Azuma ha ya ! " (O my wife !) Azuma is a name 
often used in poetry for the part of Japan north of 
this pass. But whether this myth was invented to 
explain the name, or the name was derived from the 
incident, it is impossible to determine. 

^ It is one of the favorite subjects of Japanese art to represent the 
Princess Oto-Tachibana sitting upon a pile of mats and the boat with 
her husband sailing off in the quieted waters. 

2 The name by which these savage tribes were designated was 
Yemishi ; the name however is written in Chinese characters which 
signify Prawn-Barbarians ; in allusion to their heavy beards which 
gave them the appearance of prawns. See p. 22. 



72 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

Then Prince Yomato-dake went into the high 
lands of Shinano and after he had settled the dis- 
turbances which existed there, he came back to 
Owari where he had left the Princess Miyazu. In 
one of his excursions into the rebellious regions he 
was stricken with a fatal illness. In his enfeebled 
condition he struggled on, almost unable to walk. 
He made his way towards Ise. At Otsu, a village 
on the coast of Owari bay, he recovered the sword 
which h-e had left on his way to the East. In his 
painful journey he sat down under a pine tree. The 
spirit of poesy even in his pain came upon him and 
he sang this little poem * in praise of the pine tree : 

mine elder brother, the single pine tree 

That art on cape Otsu, which directly faces Owari ! 
If thou single pine tree ! wert a person, 

1 would gird my sword upon thee, 

I would clothe thee with my garments, — - 
O mine elder brother, the single pine tree ! 

He went on a little farther to Nobono and his 
sickness became more serious. And there in the 
open fields he felt that his end had come. He sent 
the spoils of his expedition to the temple of his great 
ancestress, the Sun Goddess. He sent his faithful 
companion Prince Kibi-no-Takehito to the emperor 
to carry his last message. It was : *' I have chas- 
tised the eastern barbarians according to your im- 
perial order with the help of the gods and with your 
imperial influence. I hoped to return in triumph 

^ See Chamberlain's translation of Kojiki^ — Asiatic Society TranS' 
actions^ vol. x., Supplement, p. 218. 



FOUNDING THE EMPIRE, 73 

with my weapons wrapped in white. But I have been 
seized with a mortal disease, and I cannot recover. 
I am lying in the sweet open fields. I do not care 
for my life. I only regret that I cannot live to 
appear before thee and make my report of my 
expedition." 

And he died in the thirty-second year of his age. 
And they buried him there and built a mausoleum 
over his remains. The emperor lamented the death 
of his gallant and immortal son, and made an im^ 
perial progress into the regions which he had con^ 
quered and pacified. 

The successor to the Emperor Keiko was known 
by the canonical name of Seimu. He was the 
thirteenth emperor, and was the grandson of his 
predecessor, having been a son of the hero Yamato- 
dake who was the crown prince until his death. The 
Emperor Seimu reigned fifty-nine years and died at 
the age of one hundred and eight. Nothing note- 
worthy is narrated of his reign, 

His successor, the fourteenth emperor, was Chuai, 
his eldest son. He reigned only eight years and 
died at the age of fifty-two. It is remarkable that 
his capital was in the island of Kyushu and not in 
the Main island, like his predecessors from the time 
of the Emperor Jimmu. This removal was probably 
due to the preparations which had already begun 
for the invasion of Korea. The island of Kyushu 
is most favorably situated for the preparation and 
sailing of such an expedition. The wife of this 
ernperor was Jingo-Kogo, who was a much more 
forcible and energetic character than her husband. 



74 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

She is one of the heroines around whom much tra- 
dition has gathered, and her successful invasion of 
Korea is an event which the Japanese writers and 
artists are never tired of representing. The legend 
— for undoubtedly much of the story is legendary — 
is essentially as follows : 

The emperor was busy in Kyushu in reducing to 
subjection the tribes of the Kumaso who inhabited 
the southern portion of the island. Up to this time 
these restless tribes had given much trouble to the 
empire and expeditions were constantly needed to 
keep them in order. They were unquestionably of 
a kindred race with the Japanese w^io accompanied 
the Emperor Jimmu into the Main island. The 
empress, afterward known as Jingo-Kogo and the 
faithful prime-minister Take-no-uchi ' were at their 
temporary palace at Kashihi. The empress in an in- 
terview on the campaign became divinely possessed. 
And she spoke to the emperor in the name of the 
deity that possessed her saying, " There is a land at 
the westward, and in that land there is abundance of 
various treasures dazzling to the eye, from gold and 
silver downwards. I will nov/ bestow this land upon 
thee." 

Then the emperor replied, " If you ascend to a 
high place and look westward, no country is to be 
seen; there is only the great sea." And he pushed 
away the lute upon which he was playing and said, 
" They are lying deities which have spoken to you." 

' He is chiefly notable to foreigners because he is said to have 
lived through the reigns of three emperors and to have reached the 
age of three hundred years. 



FOUNDING THE EMPIRE. 75 

Then the deity was very angry and spoke again 
through the empress. *' This empire is not a land 
over which thou art fit to rule. Go thou the one 
road." 

The prime-minister Take-no-uchi then said to the 
emperor, " I am filled with awe, my heavenly sov- 
ereign, at this fearful message. I pray thee continue 
playing thy august lute." Then he played softly ; 
and gradually the sound died away and all was still. 
And they took a light and looking in his face, behold 
he was dead. 

The empress and the prime-minister Take-no-uchi 
concealed for the time the death of the emperor, and 
she herself proceeded to carry out the plan for the 
invasion of Korea. With indefatigable energy she 
gathered her forces and equipped a fleet for the 
descent upon Korea. She set out from Wani in 
Kyushu in the tenth month of the year A.D. 202. 
Even the fish of the sea were her allies, for with one 
accord they bore the ship in which she sailed across 
the intervening straits on their backs. 

The coming of the Japanese was a complete sur- 
prise to the people of Korea. At this time the 
peninsula now known to us as Korea and to the 
Japanese as Chosen, was divided into three king- 
doms, Korai, Shiraki, and Kudara. The fleet of 
Jingo-Kogo landed in the kingdom of Shiraki. The 
king was so completely unprepared for this incursion 
that he at once offered his subjection and proposed 
to become a tributary kingdom. The proposition 
was accepted. The kings of Korai and Kudara 
made similar proposals which also were accepted, 



'j6 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

Each was to make an immediate contribution to the 
empress, and annually thereafter to send tribute to 
the capital of Japan. Thus they became the three 
tributary countries (sankan) dependent on Japan. 
Although this invasion of a foreign country without 
cause or provocation must be pronounced indefensi- 
ble, yet it is not unlikely that the subject kingdoms 
were quite as safe and free under the distant and 
little intermeddlesome dominion of the Japanese 
empire, as they had been in the past or were likely 
to be in the future from their troublesome neighbors, 
China and the restless Mongolian tribes. To Japan 
the connection with the continent was of momen- 
tous value. It opened up a natural and easy way for 
the influx of those continental influences which were 
to be of so great service in their future history. 

The empress, having within three years completely 
accomplished the object of her expedition, returned 
with her fleet to Kyushu. She brought back with 
her hostages from the conquered kingdoms, to en- 
sure their fulfilment of the promises they had made. 
She had learned many lessons of government which 
she was not slow to introduce into her administra- 
tion at home. Soon after reaching Kyushu she was 
delivered of the son of whom she was pregnant at 
the time of the death of the emperor, and who after- 
wards became the Emperor Ojin. 

The object which she and her faithful prime- 
minister had in conceahng the death of the emperor 
was accomphshfed. They now made the fact public, 
and proclaimed her own son as her successor. Two 
older sons of Chuai by another empress were un- 



FOUNDING THE EMPIRE. yy 

willing to submit to the rule of a younger brother. 
But the Empress Jingo, who had now become a 
national idol by her Korean expedition, soon put 
down the conspiracy of these princes and reigned 
till the end of her life and left a quiet succession to 
her son. 

She is said to have reigned as empress-regent^ sixty- 
eight years, and to have died at the age of one 
hundred. 

Her son became the fifteenth emperor and is 
known by the canonical name of Ojin. He com- 
menced his reign in the year A.D. 270, and reigned 
forty years and died at the age of one hundred and 
ten. But the beginning of his reign is reckoned 
in the government list from the death of his 
father. The Emperor Ojin is widely worshipped as 
Hachiman the god of war, although he is by no 
means noted as a warrior. The explanation of this 
curious circumstance is found in the fact that his 
mother was pregnant with him during her famous 
invasion of Korea, and her heroism and success are 
attributed to the martial character of her unborn son. 

The good fruits of the Korean conquest particu- 
larly showed themselves in A.D. 284, when the king 
of Kudara sent his usual tribute to the emperor of 
Japan. The ambassador for that year was Ajiki, a 
learned man who was familiar with Chinese litera- 
ture. At the request of the emperor he gave the 
young prince, who afterwards became the Emperor 
Nintoku, lessons in the Chinese language and litera- 

' She is not included in the government list of emperors, and is 
given in Appendix I. as empress-regent. 



78 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

ture. The year following the king of Kudara see- 
ing how much his efforts to furnish Chinese learning 
were appreciated, sent an eminent Chinese scholar, 
Wani, who took with him the Cofifucian Analects and 
the Thousand Character Essay, two noted Chinese 
classics and presented them to the emperor. The 
prince continued his studies under Wani and became 
a very learned man. 

The emperor had three sons between whom he 
wished to divide his authority, wishing however to 
establish his youngest son as the crown prince and 
his successor. He summoned them before him and 
put this question to the elder, " Which should be 
preferred, a younger son or an older?" Then the 
elder son replied that he thought the older son 
should be preferred. But the emperor turned to the 
second son and asked him the same question. He 
replied that as the older son was more grown and 
less of a care, he thought the younger son would be 
more of a favorite. The emperor was pleased with 
this reply because it coincided with his own senti- 
ment. He created his youngest son, Prince Waka- 
iratsu, the crown prince and ordered his second son, 
Prince Osasagi, to assist him. He gave the charge 
of the mountains, rivers, forests, fields, etc. to his 
eldest son. 

So when the Emperor Ojin died A.D. 310, the 
younger son urged his brother to accept the imperial 
power ; but he declined, saying : " How can I disobey 
the commands of my father?" The oldest of the 
three brothers, learning of the controversy, under- 
took to secure the authority for himself by a plot. 
The conspiracy was, however, soon put down and 



FOUNDING THE EMPIRE. 79 

the elder brother slain. The friendly dispute be- 
tween the two other brothers lasted three years 
and was finally ended by the younger committing 
suicide, and thus devolving the imperial office on 
his remaining brother. This brother was the noted 
Emperor Nintoku. He began his reign in the year 
A.D. 313, and died A.D. 399 in the one hundred and 
tenth year of his age. He was a most careful and 
considerate ruler. By observing his subjects he 
was convinced that they were overburdened and 
impoverished with the taxes which the government 
collected from them. So he announced by an im- 
perial decree that for three years all taxes should 
be remitted. Even the sums which were necessary 
to keep the palace in repair and to provide his court 
with suitable clothing were not collected. And the 
palace grew shabby, and its roof leaked, and he him- 
self went about in coarse and cheap garments. And 
the farmers came to him and begged that they might 
contribute to his wants. But he refused, and suf. 
fered three years to pass. In the meantime the 
country revived, and the farmers being relieved from 
the burdens which they had so long borne entered 
on a long period of encouraging prosperity. He 
surveyed the land from a high outlook, and saw the 
curling smoke and the fertile fields and rejoiced. 
Then he gave commands, and the taxes were re- 
newed, and the people paid them willingly, and they 
in their gratitude called Nintoku the Sage Emperor. 
It was in the reign of the Emperor Nintoku that 
the noted prime-minister Prince Take-no-uchi is said 
to have died. He had served six emperors, viz. : 
Keiko, Seimu, Chuai, Jingo-Kogo, Ojin, and Nintoku. 



8o THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

His age^ is given variously from two hundred and 
eighty-two to three hundred and eighty, in different 
books, one of which is a Chinese work and one a 
Korean. It will be remembered that he was the 
chief adviser of the warlike Empress Jingo in her 
invasix)n of Korea, and took an active part in the 
events which followed that expedition. That there 
was such a figure in Japanese history there can be 
little doubt, but that much of his life and the great 
age to which he lived are like many of the stories of 
the characters in the midst of which he lived, legend- 
ary and mythical, no one can question. 

It was in this reign also that we have it stated 
that historiographers were sent out to the provinces 
and directed to make record of all important events 
and forward them to the court. 

We have now reached a point in Japanese history 
where the accounts compiled by the historians of the 
times have written records on which to rely. The 
legendary and marvellous stories which have been 
the bulk of the preceding history may now be re- 
placed by the soberer narrations which writing has 
preserved for us. It will be seen that the lives ^ of 
the emperors now drop from the astonishing age, 
which in previous years they attained to a very 
moderate and reasonable length. In the subsequent 
chapters will be found the sober and chastened 
story to which Japanese history is henceforth 
reduced. 

^ See Kokushian, compiled under the Department of Education. 
Ad Locum. 

^ See Appendix I. 



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CHAPTER V. 



NATIVE CULTURE AND CONTINENTAL INFLUENCES. 



Before going on to the meagre story which is 
supphed to us by the early years of Japanese history, 
it will be well to glean from the myths and legends 
which tradition has preserved the lessons which they 
contain. Although we may be unable to concede 
the truth of these traditions in their entirety, and 
believe in the celestial origin of the race and the 
wonders of the divine age, we may be able to obtain 
from them many important facts regarding the 
habits and manner of life of the early Japanese. 

We have often referred to the admirable work 
Mr. Chamberlain has done in his translation of the 
Kojiki, and in the scholarly notes he has added. 
But in our present enquiries we must give him 
still greater credit for the important lessons which 
he has drawn from the myths and legends of the 
Kojikim his learned introduction. No writer at the 
present day can afford to dispense with the deduc- 
tions which he has been able to draw from the oldest 
writings of the Japanese, and from the traditions of 
an older date which these writings have preserved. 

6 8i 

f 



82 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

Relying therefore chiefly on this learned intoduc- 
tion,^ we propose to enumerate in a summary manner 
the particulars concerning the early Japanese life. 

In the first place the government of the early 
Japanese was of the tribal order. The emperor was 
the chieftain of an expedition which came from the 
island of Kyushu and established a government by 
conquest. The chiefs of the various localities were 
reduced to subjection and became tributary to the 
emperor, or were replaced by new chiefs appointed 
by the emperor. The government was therefore 
essentially feudal in its characteristics. The em- 
peror depended for the consideration of his plans 
and for their execution upon officers who were at- 
tached to his court. There were guilds composed 
of those who manufactured various articles, or who 
were employed to execute special plans. Thus we 
have guilds of clay image makers, guilds of ladies 
attendant on the emperor, guilds of butlers, guilds 
of cooks, guilds of guards, etc. To each of these 
there was a captain who became by appointment 
hereditary chief. We have no mention of money for 
the payment of services rendered. The taxes were 
probably paid in kind. And all transactions as far 
as they are mentioned at all seem to have been of 
the nature of barter. 

The religious notions of the prehistoric Japanese 
were founded on the myths relating to their ances- 
tor. Notwithstanding the vast number of deities 
who came into existence according to tradition, 
most of them vanish as soon as they are named and 

' Transactions of the Asiatic Society of yapan, vol. x., Supplement. 



NATIVE CULTURE, 83 

are no more heard of. Even deities like Izanagi and 
Izanami, who are represented as taking so important 
a part in events, are not perpetuated as objects of 
worship in Japanese history, and have no temples 
erected to their memory and no service prescribed 
or maintained in their honor. The most important 
deity in the Pantheon of the Japanese was Amate- 
rasu-o-mi-kami, who is also called in Chinese charac- 
ters Tensho Daijin or the Sun Goddess. She appears 
not only in the myths concerning the origin of the 
Japanese race, but as the grandmother of the divine 
prince Hiko-ho-no-ni-nigi, who first came down to 
rule the Japanese empire. In the Shinto temples at 
Is^ the principal deity worshipped at Geku is Uke- 
moche-no-Kami, and the secondary deities Ninigi- 
no-Mikoto, who came down to found the Japanese 
empire and was the grandmother of the Emperor 
Jimmu, and two others. At the Naiku the principal 
deity is Amaterasu-o-mi-kami (from heaven shining 
great deity), also called the Sun Goddess, and two 
secondary deities. The temples at Ise, especially 
those that are dedicated to the Sun Goddess, are the 
most highly regarded of any in Japan. Other 
temples of considerable popularity are situated in 
other parts of the empire. Thus there are Shinto 
temples in Kyushu and in Izumo, which are old 
parts of Japan settled long before Buddhism was 
introduced. 

The Shinto religion must be regarded as the prim- 
itive religion of the Japanese people. It prevailed 
among them long before Buddhism was propagated 
by priests from Korea. It differs from all known 



84 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

systems of religion, in having no body of dogma by 
which its adherents are held together. The greatest 
advocate of Shintoism, Moto-ori, a writer of the i8th 
century, admits that it has no moral code. He as- 
serts that '' morals ' were invented by the Chinese 
because they were an immoral people, but in Japan 
there was no necessity for any system of morals, as 
every Japanese acted rightly if he only consulted his 
own heart." 

Reference is frequently made in the early stories 
to divination, or the process of obtaining the will of 
the gods by indirection. The oldest method of divi- 
nation was by using the shoulder-blade of a deer. It 
was scraped entirely free from flesh, and then placed 
over a fire made from cherry wood. The divine will 
was determined by the cracks caused by the fire in 
the bone. A later method of divination was by 
using the shell of a tortoise in the same way as the 
shoulder-blade of the deer was used. They had 
superstitions about fighting with the back to the 
sun ; about using only one light in the house at once ; 
about breaking off the teeth of a comb in the night- 
time ; about the destination of the first arrow shot in 
battle, etc. 

The superstition of impurity being attached to the 
mother at the birth of a child, and to the house and 
those associated with it in which a death occurred, is 
often mentioned. A mother, when about to be de- 
livered, was required to retire alone into a separate 
dwelling or hut without windows. This cruel cus- 

' E. M. Satow, Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, 
Tiol. ii., p. 135. 



NATIVE CULTURE. . 85 

torn has prevailed in the island of Hachijo * down 
almost to the present time. A custom prevailed, 
also, of abandoning the dwelling in which a death 
had occurred. The dead body was removed to a 
mourning hut, where amid sobs and weeping the 
mourners continued to hold a carousal, feasting upon 
the food provided for the dead. This abandonment 
of the house occupied by the living may explain the 
custom, so often referred to, of each new emperor 
occupying a different palace from that of his prede- 
cessor. We have already referred to the dreadful 
custom which prevailed until the reign of the Em- 
peror Suinin, of burying living retainers around the 
sepulchre of their dead master. The custom was 
replaced by burying clay images of servants and 
animals around the tomb, and this continued till 
about A.D. 700. 

There is no evidence that children received any 
kind of education other than a training in the use of 
arms and implements. The art of writing was 
brought over from Korea in A.D. 284. Up to this, 
time there is nothing to show that the Japanese pos- 
sessed any means of recording the events which oc- 
curred. No books existed, and reading and writing 
were unknown. The language spoken by the people 
was an ancient form of that which now prevails. The 
earliest examples of this language are found in the 
songs preserved in the Kojiki and Nihongi. As in 
every language, the earliest preserved specimens are 
poetry, so in Japanese the fragments which have 

' E. M. Satow, Transactions of the Asiatic Society of yapan, 
vol. vi., p. 435. 



86 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

been remembered and brought down to us, are 
scraps of songs. The origin of this language is, like 
the origin of the race, impossible at present to verify. 
It seems plain that the race came from the continent 
by way of Korea. If this is to be taken as the origin 
of the race, then the language which developed into 
the Japanese came from the northern tribes of China 
and of Siberia. 

There is no indication of the method by which the 
early Japanese reckoned time. The sun in the day- 
time and the cocks by night, must have given them 
their division of hours. The year made itself ap- 
parent by the changes of temperature. It was not, 
however, till the introduction of calendars from 
China that anything like an accurate system of esti- 
mating and recording time was introduced. 

The food of the primitive Japanese was much 
more largely animal than it became in later times. 
To the early Japanese there was no restriction in the 
use of animal food, such as the Buddhists introduced. 
Fish and shell-fish have always been, and doubtless 
from the first were, principal articles of food. The 
five grains, so called, are often referred to, and are 
specially mentioned in the Shinto rituals, whose ori- 
gin goes back to prehistoric times. These grains^ 
are rice, millet, barley, and two kinds of beans. Silk- 
worms and their food plant, the mulberry, are like- 
wise spoken of. The only kind of drink referrrd to 
is sake. It will be remembered that in the myth 
concerning the Impetuous Male Deity in Izumo, 

' Satow, " Ancient Japanese Rituals," Asiatic Society Transactions, 
vol. vii., p. 423. 



NATIVE CULTURE, 87 

the old man and old woman were directed to pre- 
pare eight tubs oi sak^, by drinking which the eight- 
headed serpent was intoxicated. In the traditional 
history of the emperors, they are represented as 
drinking sake\ sometimes even to intoxication. And 
in the rituals recited when offerings are made to their 
deities, the jars of sake are enumerated among the 
things offered. The Japanese writers claim that sake 
was a native discovery, but there is a well supported 
belief that in very early times they borrowed the art 
of manufacturing it from the Chinese. There is at 
least a difficulty in believing that this liquor should 
have been invented independently in the two coun- 
tries. Chopsticks are mentioned in early Japanese 
times, and clay vessels for food, and cups for drink- 
ing made of oak leaves. On the whole, the conclu- 
sions to be drawn from the earliest traditions con- 
cerning the Japanese lead us to regard them as hav- 
ing attained a material degree of civilization in all 
matters pertaining to food and drink. Yet it cannot 
be regarded as other than strange that milk, cheese 
and butter are nowhere mentioned, and had never 
been used. 

In the matter of clothing we have little except 
hints to guide us in forming inferences. The rituals 
enumerate ' '' bright cloth, soft cloth, and coarse 
cloth." Mr. Satow remarks^ on this enumeration 
that ** in the earhest ages the materials used were 
the bark of the paper-mulberry {broussonetia papy- 
riferd), wistaria tendrils and hemp, but when the 

' E. M. Satow, Asiatic Society Transactions, vol. vii., p. lOg, 
* Ditto, p. iig. 



88 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

silkworm was introduced the finer fabric naturally 
took the place of the humbler in the offerings to the 
gods." The paper-mulberry which is now used for 
making paper, was in early times twisted into a 
thread and woven into a very serviceable cloth. 
Cotton * which now furnishes so large a part of the 
clothing of the people is nowhere mentioned. The 
skins of animals were doubtless used as clothing be- 
fore the introduction of Buddhism made the killing 
of animals uncommon. In the legend of the purifi- 
cation of Izanagi ^ we read of a girdle, of a skirt, of 
an upper garment, of trousers, and of a hat. What 
the shapes of these garments were we cannot tell, 
but the number of different garments indicates a con- 
siderable development in the ideas of clothing. In 
the same myth, and in many other places, mention 
is made of the bracelets which Izanagi wore on the 
left and right arm. And when he wished to show 
his pleasure in the daughter who had been produced 
in washing his left eye, he invested her with his neck- 
lace taken from his own neck. Jewelry seems in 
these prehistoric times to have been more common- 
ly worn than in modern historical times. The 
jewels ^ used were the magatama and kiidatama 
which have been found in the ancient burial places. 

^ Cotton is said to have been brought to Japan from India in the 
reign of the Emperor Kwammu, A.D. 800. T.B. Poate, Transactions 
of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. iv., p. 146. 

2 Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. x. , Supple- 
ment, pp. 39 and 40. 

' Henry von Siebold, Japanese Archaeology, Yokohama, 1879, 
p, 16. The diagram in the text is from this M^ork on Archaeology, 
and shows the variety of jewels in use in prehistoric times. 




MAGATAMA AND KUDATAMA. 



90 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

Rings have also been found which are beHeved to 
date back to prehistoric times. From the clay 
images which have come down to us it is now as- 
certained that the rings were worn as ornaments to 
the ears and never as rings to the fingers. These 
rings are of copper or bronze, plated with gold or 
silver. Combs and mirrors are spoken of, but how 
the metal mirrors are made we do not know. 

The only indications of the character of the 
houses* used by the early Japanese are found in the 
traditions respecting the primitive Shinto temples. 
The early methods of building were perpetuated in 
these temples, and in the eighteenth century a very 
persistent effort was made for the revival of pure 
Shinto. Under the influence of this movement 
the temples at Ise and elsewhere were purified 
from the contaminations which had been introduced 
by Buddhism. After the close of the war which 
resulted in the restoration of the emperor to his 
proper authority in 1868 a small temple in the most 
severe Shinto style was built at Kudan, one of the 
picturesque heights of Yedo, in memory of the sol- 
diers who perished in the conflict. From a careful 
examination of all that can illustrate the houses 
of the early Japanese, we infer that they were of 
extreme simplicity. Stone was never used. The 
structures were entirely of wood. Even the palaces 
of the emperors were what we would call merely 
huts. Four upright posts sunk in the ground formed 
the corners. At the half-way intervals between 
these posts, were planted four other posts ; those at 
' For the so called cave dwellings see p. 68. 



NATIVE CULTURE. 9 1 

the gable ends were high enough to sustain the 
ridge pole. On the other sides on the top of the 
posts were laid two plates. Abutting on these plates 
and crossing each other at the ridge pole stood the 
rafters, which sustained the thatched roof. In the 
absence of nails and pins, the timbers were fastened 
together by the tough tendrils of climbing plants. 
A hole in the gable end permitted the escape of the 
smoke from the fire built on the ground floor. 
Around the sides of the interior stood a raised couch 
on which the occupants sat by day and slept at 
night. The other parts of the floor were uncovered 
and consisted only of earth. They used mats made 
from the skins of animals or from rushes, on which 
they sat and slept. The doors of their dweUings 
were fastened by means of iron hooks, and swung 
on hinges unlike the modern Japanese door which 
always is made to slide. 

The agricultural plants spoken of are numerous 
but leave unmentioned many of the plants of first 
importance. Tea, now so extensively cultivated, is 
nowhere spoken of. Tobacco was a late importation 
and came in with the Portuguese in the sixteenth 
century. Cotton was not introduced, as we have al- 
ready said, until the beginning of the ninth century. 
Potatoes, including both the sweet potato and the 
white potato, are unmentioned. The orange came 
to Japan according to the received tradition at the 
close of the reign of the Emperor Suinin (a.d. 
29-70). 

Very little is said of the implements used by the 
primitive Japanese. Metal of any kind was almost 



92 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

unknown. We read of swords and fish-hooks, but 
these are the only implements referred to which 
seem to have been made of metal. Pots and cups of 
earthenware were used. The axes which they must 
have used to cut down the trees for building and 
for fuel must have been of stone, or sometimes of 
deer's horn. Archaeologists both native and foreign 
have brought to light many ancient implements of 
the Stone age. An interesting and detailed account 
of these discoveries will be found in the work on 
Japanese Archceology by Henry Von Siebold, Yoko- 
homa, 1879. 

The arms used by the warriors were spears, bows 
and arrows, and swords. Numerous arrow heads 
have been found which bear a striking likeness to 
those found in Europe and America. Spear heads 
of flint have also been found. That the people were 
emerging from the Stone age is shown by the swords 
made of metal which they are represented as habit- 
ually using. They also seem to have had a small 
sword or dagger, as in the myth of the traitorous 
plot entered into by the empress and her brother 
against the Emperor Suinin. Castles in the modern 
sense are not referred to, although the same word 
shiro is used to represent the stockades with which 
they protected themselves. The castles of modern 
times, such as those at Kumamoto, Owari, and Yedo, 
are without doubt the outgrowth of the primitive 
stockade, and the same name has continued to be 
applied in all the successive changes. 

Few domestic animals are mentioned. The horse 
is spoken of as an animal for riding, but not for 



NATIVE CULTURE. 93 

driving. The same thing may be said of the use of 
horses in Japan even until modern times. The do- 
mestic fowl is referred to in the myth of the disap- 
pearance of the Sun Goddess. Dogs are mentioned 
in the later parts of the traditional period, but not 
cats. The cow and the products of the cow are not 
referred to. To these domestic animals may be 
added the corm.orant/ which was used for fishing, in 
the same way that it is used in the eastern parts of 
China and to a small extent in the w^aters of Owari 
and Mino at the present time. The wild animals of 
that day were the deer, the bear, the boar, the hare^ 
etc. These animals were hunted for their flesh and 
for their skins. 

The islands of Japan being largely interspersed 
with water much of the travel even from the earliest 
time was performed in boats. The expedition of 
Jimmu from the island of Kyushu was in part con- 
ducted in the boats which the colony had constructed 
for the purpose. Whether these boats were of the 
form now used in Japan it is impossible to determine. 
It is probable however that the present form of boat 
is an evolution of the primitive boat, which was used 
by the prehistoric Japanese and which was a part of 
the equipment with which their ancestors came over 
from Korea to the islands of Japan. Travel on land 
was principally on foot, although as we have said the 
horse was used at this early day for riding. No 
wheeled vehicle is mentioned. The bullock cart used 
in later times was restricted to the use of the imperial 
household, and probably was introduced by the 

* Asiatic Society Transactions, vol. v., p. no. 



94 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

Buddhists. There were government roads constructed 
from the home provinces in different directions to 
those more distant. It is said that this scheme 
was more fully carried out after the return of the 
Empress Jingo from her conquest of Korea. 

Let us now turn from these evidences of native 
culture to the events of Japanese history which have 
to do with the introduction of the civilization from 
the continent. For three thousand years before the 
Christian era China has been looked upon as one of 
the cultured nations of the earth. No written lan- 
guage has ever been or is now understood by so many 
people as the Chinese. The Chinese were a civilized 
people centuries before the Japanese had, even ac- 
cording to their own uncertain legends, emerged into 
the light as an empire. If we accept the opinion 
which seems most reasonable, that the Japanese came 
over to the Japanese islands from the continent by 
way of Korea, and belong to the Mongol tribes of 
central Asia, then we must assume that the Japanese 
were closely related to a large section of the Chinese. 
They have been from the beginning of their history 
a receptive people. They have stood ready to wel- 
come the good things which were offered to them, 
coming from whatever direction. They accepted 
eagerly the Chinese written language and the philos- 
ophy with which it came charged. They accepted 
Buddhism with its priesthood and dogma and ritual, 
and permitted it to crowd their native religion until 
it became a pitiful minority. They have in recent 
times accepted with a hearty impetuosity the civili- 
zation of western nations, and are absorbing it as 



NATIVE CULTURE. 95 

rapidly as the habits and thoughts of a people can 
take in so important a change. 

We have already referred to the first introduction' 
of Chinese literature into Japan. It took place in 
the reign of the Emperor Ojin A.D. 284. The ambas- 
sador who brought the tribute from Korea that year 
was Ajiki who was familiar with the Chinese litera- 
ture. He gave lessons in Chinese to the crown 
prince. The next year the king of Korea sent out 
an eminent scholar named Wani/ who continued to 
give instruction to the crown prince. From this time 
a knowledge of Chinese gradually spread and scholars 
were attached to the government to make a written 
record of the events which took place. Historiog- 
raphers were sent out during the reign of the 
Emperor Hanzei, A.D. 404, who were directed to make 
a record of all important events and forward them to 
the court. These steps soon began to show them- 
selves in the absence of the wonderful and legendary 
from the narrative of events. Beginning with the 
reign of the Emperor Richu the ages of the em- 
perors which before his time had been of such a 
marvellous length now drop to a reasonable and 
moderate period. 

The nineteenth emperor was Inkyo, thfe fourth 
son of the Emperor Nintoku. He was of an amiable 

' See p. 32. 

^ In the Kojiki it is said that the king of Ktidara sent with Wani 
the Confucimi Analects in ten volumes and the Thousand Character 
Essay in one volume. It conflicts seriously with the chronology of 
this period to learn, as both Mr. Satow and Mr. Chamberlain have 
pointed out, that the Thousand Character Essay was not written 
until two centuries after the date assigned to the advent of Wani. 



96 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

and philanthropic temperament, and accepted the 
position of emperor with great reluctance. His 
health was delicate, and he feared to take upon him- 
self such a responsibility. In the meantime there 
was an interregnum, and the court officials were 
anxious to have him enter upon the duties of em- 
peror. At last he consented and became emperor 
A.D. 412. It was during his reign that confusion 
arose concerning the family names, or rather, that 
the confusion which had been long growing now had 
its settlement. Family names had been a matter of 
growth, and many persons claimed the right to use 
a certain name who were in no wise entitled to it. 
The emperor took a singular and effectual method 
to settle the troublesome and personal questions 
that arose. He summoned all those who claimed to 
belong to any family whose claim was disputed to 
appear at Amakashi and show that they were en- 
titled to the names they claimed. He placed jars of 
boiling water and required each one to plunge his 
hand in the water. He who was injured by the hot 
water was pronounced a deceiver, and he who came 
off unhurt was pronounced as entitled to the name. 
The emperor took occasion to settle the questions 
concerning names, and put the matter on a more 
stable basis. And as the art of writing now began 
to be more common among the people mistakes in 
regard to names did not again seriously recur. 

The emperor's ill-health was the occasion for the 
introduction of another of the civilizing arts of the 
continent. When the annual tribute from Korea 
was sent it so chanced that the ambassador who 



NATIVE CULTURE. 97 

came with it was a person versed in the medical art. 
If we estimate this man's science or skill by that of 
the Chinese practitioner of a later day, we should 
certainly not place a very high value on it. It is 
narrated, however, that he cured the imperial inva- 
lid, and by this means gained great credit for his 
profession, and added another to the obligations 
which Japan owed to the continent. 

After the death of the Emperor Inkyo there was 
a quarrel about the succession between his two sons, 
Prince Kinashi-no-Karu and Prince Anaho-no-Oji. 
The courtiers all favored the latter, who was the 
younger brother, and he surrounded his elder 
brother in the house of Monobe-no-Omai. Seeing 
no way of escape he committed suicide.' The 
younger brother then became the twentieth em- 
peror, who is known under the canonical name of 
Anko. He had another difficulty growing out of 
social complications. He wanted to make the 
younger sister of Okusaka-no-Oji, who was the 
brother of the preceding Emperor Inky5, the wife 
of Ohatsuse-no-Oji, his own younger brother, who 
afterwards became the Emperor Yuriyaku. He sent 
as a messenger the court official, Ne-no-Omi, to ask 
the consent of her elder brother, who gladly gave it, 
and as a token of his gratitude for this high honor 
he sent a rich necklace. Ne-no-Omi, overcome with 
covetousness, kept the necklace for himself, and re- 
ported to the emperor that Okusaka-no-Oji refused 
his consent. The emperor was very angry, and sent 

^ The KojikVs statement is that the elder brother was banished to 
lyo. 



98 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

a detachment of troops against the supposed offen- 
der. They surrounded the house and put him to 
death. His chief attendants, knowing his innocence, 
committed suicide by the side of their dead master. 
The emperor then completed his design of taking 
the sister of Okusaka-no-Oji as the wife of the Prince 
Ohatsuse-no-Oji, and he also took his widow and 
promoted her to be his empress. 

Out of these circumstances arose serious troubles. 
His new empress had a young son by her first hus- 
band named Mayuwa-no-0, said to have been only 
seven years old. With his mother he was an inmate 
of the palace, and was probably a spoiled and way- 
ward boy. The emperor was afraid lest this boy, 
when he came to understand who had been the 
cause of the death of his father, would undertake to 
revenge himself. He talked with the empress about 
his fears and explained his apprehensions. The boy 
accidentally heard the conversation, and was proba- 
bly stimulated thereby to do the very thing which 
the emperor feared. Creeping stealthily into the 
room where the emperor lay asleep he stabbed him 
and then fled, taking refuge in the house of the 
Grandee Tsubura. The emperor was fifty-six years 
of age at the time of his death. This tragical event 
produced a great excitement. The younger brother 
of the emperor, Ohatsuse, amazed and angry be- 
cause his two older brothers were not, as he thought, 
sufficiently enraged by the murder of the emperor, 
killed them both. Then he attacked the Grandee 
Tsubura and the boy Mayuwa in their refuge. See- 
ing no way of escape Tsubura, at the request of the 
boy, first slew him and then killed himself. 



NATIVE CULTURE. 99 

Subsequently Ohatsuse, who seemed to have been 
of a violent disposition, murdered Ichinobe-no- 
Oshiha, son of the seventeenth emperor, Richu. His 
two sons, then merely boys, Oke and Woke;(literally 
big basket and little basket), hearing of this catastro- 
phe escaped into the province of Harima where they 
worked as cow-herds. Ohatsuse was crowned as the 
twenty-first emperor and is known by the canonical 
name of Yuriyaku Tenno. 

In the year A.D. 470 an ambassador came from Go 
in China and by order of the emperor was entertained 
by the Grandee Ne-no-Omi. A court official, Toneri, 
was directed to see that this duty was suitably per- 
formed. Now Ne-no-Omi, it will be remembered, 
was the grandee who, on a former occasion, was sent 
by the Emperor Anko to solicit the hand of the 
Princess Hatahi-no-Oji for the present emperor, who 
was then the crown prince. In order to entertain 
the Chinese ambassador with becoming magnificence, 
Ne-no-Omi robed himself in a gorgeous manner and 
among other things put on the rich necklace which 
he had stolen. Toneri reported to the emperor the 
superb entertainment which Ne-no-Omi had accorded 
to the Chinese ambassador, and especially the neck- 
lace which he wore. The emperor innocently asked 
that Ne-no-Omi should appear before him in order 
that he might see his superb dress. The empress, 
who was with her husband when Ne-no-Omi came in, 
recognized the necklace which had been sent by her 
brother to the late emperor. The theft was charged 
and Ne-no-Omi compelled to confess. The emperor 
proclaimed the innocence of Okusaka-no-Oji and his 
great regret at the mistaken punishments. 



lOO THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

There are many traditions current in Japanese early 
history concerning this emperor. In one he is rep- 
resented in his imperial journeys to have seen a house 
belonging to Lord Shiki built with a raised roof like 
that of the imperial palace. He was greatly enraged 
that any subject should dare to take such a liberty, 
and sent his attendants to burn the house down. The 
poor frightened lord hastened to the emperor and 
humbly apologized for his stupidity. And he pre- 
sented to the emperor in token of his humble sub- 
mission a white dog clothed with cloth and led by a 
string. So he was forgiven and his house was spared. 

In another legend he is said to have come upon a 
beautiful girl by the river side washing clothes. He 
stopped and conferred with her, and said to her, 
'' Do not thou marry a husband, I will send for thee." 
With this he returned to the palace and forgot about 
his promise. But the poor girl did not forget. Year 
after year passed, till at last after eighty years of 
waiting she was a very old woman. Then she 
thought, " My face and form are lean and withered, 
there is no longer any hope. Nevertheless, if I do not 
show the Heavenly Sovereign how truly I have 
waited, my disappointment will be unbearable." And 
so with such gifts as she could afford she presented 
herself before the emperor. He wondering at her and 
her gifts asked her, ** What old woman art thou, and 
why art thou come hither? " She replied, " Having 
in such and such a month and such and such a year 
received the Heavenly Sovereign's commands, I have 
been reverently awaiting the great command until 
this day, and eighty years have passed by. Now, my 



NATIVE CULTURE. 10 1 

appearance is decrepit and there is no longer any 
hope. Nevertheless, I have come forth in order to 
show and declare my faithfulness." Thereupon the 
Heavenly Sovereign, greatly agitated, exclaimed, *' I 
had quite forgotten my command ; and thou mean- 
while, ever faithfully awaiting my commands, hast 
vainly let pass by the years of thy prime. It is too 
pitiful." He sent her back to her home with such 
consolation as rich gifts could impart. 

We give one more of the legends which cling to 
the name of this emperor. 

He was making an imperial progress to the moor 
of Akizu for the purpose of hunting. And as he 
sat down to rest a horse-fly bit his august arm. But 
immediately a dragon-fly came and seized the horse- 
fly and flew away. Thereupon he composed an 
august song as follows : 

Who is it tells in the great presence that 
game is lying on the peak of Womuro, at 
Mi-Yeshinu ? Our Great Lord who tran- 
quilly carries on the government, being 
seated on the throne to await the game, a 
horse-fly alights on and stings the fleshy 
part of his arm fully clad in a sleeve of 
white stuff, and a dragon-fly quickly eats 
up the horse-fly. That it might properly 
bear its name, the land of Yamato was 
called the Island of the Dragon-Fly.' 

After a long reign Yuriyaku is said in Kojiki to have 
died at the age of one hundred and twenty-four. 

' The name, " Island of the Dragon-Fly " had already been given 
to the Main island by Jimmu Tenno. 



I02 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

The son of the Emperor Yuriyaku, Prince Shiraka, 
succeeded him. He is known in history as the 
Emperor Seinei. He Hved only five years after his 
accession and left no descendant to fill the throne. 
Search was accordingly made for some one of im- 
perial blood who might become emperor. It will be 
remembered that the Emperor Yuriyaku, before his 
accession, had murdered Prince Ichinobe-no-Oshiwa, 
son of the eighteenth emperor, and that his two 
sons, then young boys. Princes Oke and Woke, made 
their escape into the province of Harima. A new 
governor of this province had just arrived and was 
in attendance at the festivities in honor of the open- 
ing of a new cave * by a citizen of the place. As 
usual there was feasting, and drinking, and dancing. 
The two young men Oke and Woke, who occupied 
menial positions in this household, were called upon 
to dance. After some hesitation they each in suc- 
cession danced and sang some of the songs which 
they had learned in their boyhood.'' The new gov- 
ernor recognized these songs to be such as were 
taught at the court, and on enquiring found the 
young men to be grandsons of the Emperor Richu. 
He brought them to the palace and presented them 
to their aunt Queen li-Toyo. After a friendly con- 
test between the two brothers, the younger one, 
Prince Woke, became the twenty-third emperor 

' In these early days a muro or excavation of the earth, roofed with 
timber, was often used as a residence. See p. 68. 

'^ In this story the princes are represented as boys, but as they fled 
on the murder of their father by the Emperor Yuriyaku before his 
accession, this must have been at least twenty-eight years before ; so 
that they could nor have been less than forty years of age. 



NATIVE CULTURE. IO3 

under the canonical name of Kenzo. His reign was 
a very short one, only eight years according to the 
Kojiki and three years according to the Nihongi, The 
only incident of consequence recorded of him is that 
he sought out the burial place of his father, who had 
been murdered by the Emperor Yuriyaku, and trans- 
ferred his remains to a fitting mausoleum. He also 
contemplated the desecration of the mausoleum of 
the murderer as a mark of his vengeance, but was 
dissuaded by his brother from the undertaking. 

He died without children and was succeeded by 
his elder brother Prince Oke who became A.D. 488 
the twenty-fourth emperor under the canonical name 
of Ninken. 

Concerning the emperor and several of his suc- 
cessors there is little of interest to record. The 
twenty-fifth emperor, Muretsu (a.D. 499), who was a 
son of the emperor Ninken, was chiefly notable for 
his cruelty. Some of the acts recorded of him can 
only be equalled by those of the degenerate occu- 
pants of the imperial throne of Rome in its worst 
days. He reigned eleven years and died without 
children. The twenty-sixth emperor was Keitai 
Tenno, who was the fifth descendant from Ojin 
Tenno. The only noticeable events in his reign 
were an expedition to Korea to settle difficulties 
which had then intervened, and an expedition to 
Chikushi, the northern part of Kyushu, to repress 
tumults which had arisen. The next emperors were 
Ankan Tenno and Senkuwa Tenno, whose reigns 
were uneventful. 

The twenty-ninth emperor was Kimmei Tenno, 



I04 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

(a.d. 540-571), who was the son of Keitai Tenno. 
He reigned thirty-two years and died at the age of 
sixty-three. It was during his reign^ in A.D. 552, 
that an ambassador from Kudara, one of the three 
provinces of Korea, presented to the emperor an 
image of Shaka, and also Buddhist books explain- 
ing the doctrine. He commended highly the new 
religion, and the emperor was deeply impressed with 
its novelties. This seems the more probable because 
up to this time Japan looked upon China and Korea 
as leaders in civilization, and therefore was disposed 
to regard what had obtained a footing there as worthy 
of acceptance. 

The prime-minister Soga-no-Iname favored the 
new religion, and urged that the image of Shaka 
which had been brought over should be duly set up 
and worshipped. But the ministers Monobe-no- 
Okoshi and Kumako opposed the proposition, say- 
ing, '* Our country has its own gods ; and they 
perhaps will be angry with us if we pay our devotions 
to a foreign god." 

But the emperor settled the matter by saying, 
" Let Iname try it." He gave the idol to Iname 
with the directions that he should set it up and pray 
to it. Accordingly Iname took the image of Shaka 
and established it in a house of his own, which he 
created a temple, and worshipped it. 

But shortly after this an epidemic broke out in 
the country, and Okoshi and Kumako declared that 
it was due to the strange god which had been re- 
ceived from the western barbarians, and besought 
the emperor to have it thrown away. The image 



NATIVE CULTURE. I05 

therefore by the emperor's command was thrown 
into the sea near Naniwa/ and the temple in which 
it had been erected was destroyed. This was the 
first movement towards the introduction of Buddh- 
ism. 

In the reign of the thirtieth emperor, Bitatsu 
Tenno, A.D. 572, who was the son of Kimmei Tenno, 
Kudara again made a contribution of Buddhist em- 
blems, viz.: books of Buddhist doctrine ; a priest of 
Ritsu sect; a priest; a nun; a diviner; an image 
maker ; and a Buddhist temple carpenter. These 
were all housed in the temple of Owake-no-0 at Nani- 
wa. Seven years after this two Japanese ambassa- 
dors who had been sent to Kudara brought back 
with them several Buddhist images of stone, which 
the Daijin Umako obtained as his possession. He 
built several Buddhist temples in which he placed 
the images and other precious relics which he had 
secured. He also built a pagoda and houses in 
which the priests and nuns resided. When Umako 
was sick he asked from the emperor that he might 
avail himself of the Buddhist ritual. The emperor 
gave him this privilege, but commanded him to 
restrict it to himself. 

The Emperor Bitatsu died A.D. 585 at the age of 
forty-eight. His successor was Emperor Yomei the 
thirty-first in order from the Emperor Jimmu. He 
was by his mother a descendant of the Soga family 
and his first wife was also a daughter of the prime- 

' After the triumph of Buddhism a temple called Tennoji was 
erected near this place in honor of this image, which was miraculous- 
ly rescued from the sea and is still preserved at this. temple. 



Io6 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

minister, the Noble Iname who was also of the Soga 
family. The bitter hostihty between the members 
of the court who favored Buddhism and those who 
opposed it continued. The leader of the former 
party was Umako now the prime-minister, while the 
opponents of Buddhism were led by Moriya. One 
of the occasions when their hostility broke out was 
when the emperor was taken sick and he wished to 
try the effect of the Buddhist Sampo, that is, the 
three precious elements of Buddhism, Buddha, the 
rites of Buddhism, and the Buddhist priests. Moriya 
and his party advised against this conformity to 
Buddhism, but Umako supported him in his wishes 
and introduced a Buddhist priest into the palace to 
attend upon the emperor. In spite of all this effort, 
however, the emperor died, having reigned only 
three years. 

The death of the emperor was the signal for the 
breaking out of serious disturbances. Moriya the 
champion of the old religion was killed and his 
party overpowered. From this time Buddhism may 
be said to have triumphed in Japan. The thirty- 
second emperor, Sujun, was crowned A.D. 588. He 
was the son of the Emperor Kimmei, and at the 
time of his accession was sixty-nine years of age. 
The communication with Korea continued, and more 
and more of the Buddhist culture was introduced. 
Umako, who now had undisputed sway in the 
government, sent out to Korea persons to study the 
Buddhist faith, and consecrated many priests and 
nuns and erected temples for the new worship. 

But everything did not move smoothly. Umako, 



NATIVE CULTURE. IQJ 

with all his zeal and enthusiasm for Buddhism, was 
suspected of personal ambition, and was looked 
upon with distrust. A plot to assassinate the 
emperor was planned by Umako, which terminated 
his life, after a reign of only four years, in the 
seventy-third year of his age. 

The thirty-third sovereign was the Empress 
Suiko, who was the sister of the Emperor Yomei. 
Her coronation took place A.D. 593. Her reign was 
chiefly remarkable for the active influence of 
Umaydo-no-Oji (a.d. 572-622), who was the second 
son of the Emperor Yomei, and who was made 
crown prince under the empress, and aided her in 
the administration of the political affairs of the 
government. This prince is better known by his 
posthumous title of Shotoku Taishi (great teacher 
of the divine virtue), and is held in great rever- 
ence as the principal founder and promoter of 
Buddhism in Japan. His name has been linked 
with many legends, which are still current after the 
lapse of fourteen hundred years. It is said that as 
soon as he was born he was able to speak, and was 
in all respects a very clever boy. His memory was 
wonderfully acute. He had Napoleon the Great's 
talent of attending to several things at the same 
time. He could hear the appeals of eight persons 
at once, and give to each a proper answer. From 
this circumstance he sometimes went by the name 
of Yatsumimi-no-Oji, that is, Prince of .Eight Ears. 

The prince threw the whole influence of the gov- 
ernment in favor of Buddhism. Many temples were 
built in different central districts for the convenience 



I08 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

of the new religion. Under his influence the officers 
of the government rivalled each other in founding 
temples and maintaining them at their own expense. 
He took as his teacher a priest who had recently 
come from Korea, and from him for the first time 
learned the five Buddhist commandments : 

1. Against stealing. 

2. Against lying. 

3. Against intemperance. 

4. Against murder. 

5. Against adultery. 

He gave command to an artificer in copper to 
make large images of Buddha for each of the officers 
in the government. The king of Koma in Korea 
hearing of this great undertaking sent a contribution 
of three hundred ryo of gold. The images were 
finished in due time and an imposing religious cere- 
monial was held in honor of the event. Many of the 
principal temples of Buddhism in different parts of 
Japan take their origin from the time of Shotoku 
Taishi, and no single character in history is so inti- 
mately connected with the development of Buddh- 
ism. 

It was not only as a religious reformer, however, 
that he deserves to be remembered. He was a 
a most painstaking and enlightened ruler. He 
studiously gathered from the Chinese the elements 
and methods of government and adapted them to 
his own country.^ From his time the study of 

' See the laws which he compiled and published as found in the 
1 2th volume of Dai Nikon Shi, Appendix IV. 



NATIVE CULTURE. IO9 

Chinese literature became the essential culture of 
the active minds of Japan. 

Shotoku Taishi died A.D. 622, having been the 
principal officer of the government for twenty-nine 
years. 

The impulse which Shotoku had given to Buddh- 
ism did not subside. In the year following his 
death officers were appointed to govern the growing 
religious communities, called Sosho and Sozu, which 
in dignity and power corresponded to archbishops 
and bishops in Christian nomenclature. The first 
archbishop was Kwankin, a priest from Kudara, and 
the first bishop was Tokuseki of Kurabe. These 
officials examined every priest and nun and made a 
register of them. A census of Buddhism is also 
given which belongs to this same period. Accord- 
ing to this there were- forty-six Buddhist temples 
and 1385 priests and nuns. 

In the year A.D. 626, Soga-no-Umako the daijin 
and a life-long friend and promoter of Buddhism 
died, and two years later the Empress Suiko died. 
So nearly all the prominent participants in the events 
which had taken place since the first entrance of 
Buddhism into Japan, had disappeared. In the 
meantime a religion had taken possession of a field 
in which it was destined to exert a wide influence and 
undergo a national development. 

Along with this religion had come a literature and 
a culture, which when absorbed into the life of this 
people gave them the permanent characteristics which 
we now recognize as the Japanese civilization. The 
freer and more frequent intercourse with China and 



no THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

Korea brought with it not only a knowledge of 
books- and writing, but many improvements in arts 
and many new arts and agricultural industries. 
When the forces of the Empress Jingo returned 
from Korea they brought with them persons skilled 
in many industrial occupations. It is a tradition 
that a descendant of the Kan dynasty in China had 
fled to Korea on the fall of that dynasty, and in the 
twentieth year of the Emperor Ojin (a.d. 290) had 
migrated to Japan with a colony who were familiar 
with weaving and sewing. In the thirty-seventh 
year of the same emperor an officer was sent to 
China to obtain more weavers and sewers. The 
cultivation of the mulberry tree and the breeding of 
silk-worms ^ was introduced from China in A.D. 
457, and in order to encourage this industry the 
empress herself engaged in it. At this early period 
this important industry was begun, or at least re- 
ceived an impulse which has been continued down 
to the present time. 

With these industrial arts came in rapid succession 
the elements of a higher civilization. Books on 
almanac-making, astronomy, geography and divina- 
tion were brought to Japan from Korea and China. 
The Chinese calendar "" was first used in the reign of 
the Empress Suiko under the regency of Shotoku 
Taishi. This almanac was based on the lunar 
periods and the civil year began with the new moon 

* This must mean that improved methods of silk culture were 
introduced, for we have seen that this art was already known to 
the Japanese. 

^ Bramseia's Japanese Chronological Tables, Tokio, 1880, p. 18. 



NATIVE CULTURE, III 

occurring about the beginning of February. But as 
the length of the civil year is not an exact multiple 
of the number of days contained in a lunation, the 
twelve lunar months used by the Chinese and 
Japanese will be about eleven days shorter than the 
solar year. Hence to prevent the discrepancy from 
increasing and throwing the seasons entirely out of 
thpir place in the calendar, an intercalary month 
was inserted nearly every third year. It was inserted 
not at the end of the year but whenever the dis- 
crepancy had reached the number of days in a luna- 
tion. The month thus inserted was called by the 
same name as the preceding with an explanatory 
prefix. From this period therefore the dates of 
Japanese events may be relied upon with some 
degree of certainty. For events occurring before 
this period, a knowledge of which must have been 
transmitted by oral tradition, the dates assigned to 
them in the Nihongi must have been computed by 
counting back to the supposed time according to the 
calendar in use at the time of the writing. 

The astronomy and geography introduced into 
Japan along with almanac-making in the fifth cen- 
tury were without question very primitive sciences. 
At this time even in Europe the knowledge of these 
sciences was not advanced beyond the imperfect 
notions of the Greeks. It was not until the six- 
teenth century, when the discoveries of the Portu= 
guese and the Spaniards and the English had 
revealed the shape and the divisions of the earth, 
and the Jesuits had carried this knowledge to China 
and Japan, that anything like a correct astronomy 



112 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

or geography was possible. By divination, which £3 
mentioned as one of the sciences brought over from 
Korea, was meant the determination of future events 
or of lucky or unlucky conditions. 

The most important civilizing force introduced 
from China at this period was the formal institutions 
of education. Although the first establishment of a 
school dates from the reign of the Emperor Tenji 
(a.d. 668-671), yet it was not till the reign of the 
Emperor Mommu (a.d. 697-707) that the university 
was regularly organized. Branch schools were also 
established in the several provinces. In the univer- 
sity there were departments for Chinese literature, 
for medicine, for astronomy and almanac-making, and 
for astrology. Under the first head were included 
the art of writing the Chinese characters, the practice 
of composition, the study of the Chinese classics, and 
the reading of books of Chinese history. In like 
manner the training of the students in medicine 
chiefly consisted in making them familiar with the 
methods which prevailed in China. The properties 
of medicinal plants, the variations of the pulse in 
health and disease and in the changing seasons, and 
the anatomy of the human body were the chief 
subjects of study. The human cadaver was never 
dissected, but a knowledge of anatomy was obtained 
from diagrams which were wholly hypothetical. In 
early times medical ofilicers were appointed to ex- 
periment with medicines upon monkeys, and also to 
dissect the bodies of monkeys. From these dissec- 
tions, as well as from the printed diagrams of Chinese 
books the imperfect knowledge which they had 
reached was derived. It was not till 1771 that 



NATIVE CULTURE. II3 

Sugita Genpaku ^ and several other Japanese scholars 
had an opportunity to dissect the body of a criminal, 
and by personal observation found the utter falsity 
of the Chinese diagrams on which they had hitherto 
relied, and the correctness of the Dutch books, which 
they had, contrary to the laws of the country, learned 
to read. 

The great reverence felt for Chinese culture led to 
the introduction at an early date of the Chinese sys- 
tem of official rank. The system remained in force 
down to the restoration in 1868. The officers were 
Daijo-daijin (Prime-Minister), Sa-daijin (Minister of 
the Left), U-daijin (Minister of the Right), together 
with eight boards,^ charged with the various duties 
of administration. These boards were divided into 
sections, and the various departments of the govern- 
ment were respectively performed by them. In this 
way the administration became thoroughly bureau- 
cratic, in imitation of the Chinese empire, to which 
the Japanese at this time looked up with the most 
complete reverence. 

In addition to these official boards, six official 
ranks were also introduced from China. These ranks 
were designated, first, virtue ; second, humanity ; 
third, propriety ; fourth, truth ; fifth, righteousness, 
and sixth, wisdom. Each of these ranks ^ was divided 

^ The author is indebted to the valuable paper read before the 
Asiatic Society of Japan by Willis Norton Whitney, M.D., for much 
of the information concerning medicine in Japan. — Asiatic Society 
Transactions, vol. xii., part iv., p. 329. 

^ For an enumeration of these boards and the officers and duties oi 
each, see Walter Dickson's Japan, p. 72. 

^ See a note by Mr. Satow in Adams' History of Japan, London, 
vol. i., p. 24. 



114 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

into two orders termed respectively the Greater and 
the Lesser. Thus there were twelve distinctions in 
this system. It was introduced in the reign of the 
Empress Suiko, A.D. 604, and is generally attributed 
to the Regent Shotoku, who was a great admirer of 
the continental civilization. It existed in this form 
until the time of the Emperor Kotoku, when, AD. 
649, it was extended to nineteen distinctions. These 
were not given to the individual in recognition of 
talent, but to families to be by them transmitted to 
their posterity as hereditary rank. 

For many years during this period of active 
intercourse with China and Korea, Dazaifu, situated 
on the west coast of Kyushu, north of the present 
situation of Nagasaki, was the recognized port where 
strangers were received. This city was the seat of a 
vice-royalty, having control over the nine provinces 
of Kyushu. The office of vice-governor was con- 
sidered a place of honorable banishment to which 
distinguished men who were distasteful at court 
could be sent. 

These continental influences continued for many 
years and indeed have never ceased. There has 
always existed a class of scholars who looked upon 
Chinese learning as the supreme pinnacle to which 
the human mind could attain. This was especially 
true of the admirers of Confucius and Confucianism. 
Although it was not until a much later period that 
the culture of a Chinese philosophy attained its high- 
est mark, yet even in the early arrangement of the 
studies in the university we see the wide influence 
which the writings of the Chinese classics exerted. 



NATIVE CULTURE. \\% 

We close this chapter with an event which evinced 
the advance which Japanese civiHzation had made, 
and aided greatly in prompting this advance in the 
subsequent centuries. , This event was the publica- 
tion of the Kojiki (Record of Ancient Things) and 
the Nihongi (Chronicles of Japan). A book still 
older than these is said to have been composed in 
A.D. 620, but it perished in a fire in A.D. 645, although 
a fragment is said to have been rescued. The cir- 
cumstances attending the preparation of the Kojiki 
are given by Mr. Satow in his paper ' on the '' Revival 
of Pure Shinto," and also by Mr. Chamberlain^ in 
his introduction to the translation. The Emperor 
Temmu had resolved to take measures to preserve 
the true traditions from oblivion. He had the 
records carefully examined and compiled. Then 
these collated traditions were one by one committed 
to one of the household officers, Hiyeda-no-Are, who 
had a marvellously retentive memory. Before the 
work of compilation was finished the emperor died ; 
but the Empress Gemmyo, who after an interval suc- 
ceeded him, carried it on to its completion in A.D. 
7J^^ By her direction the traditions were taken 
down from Are's dictation in the form in which we 
now have them. It is by no means a pleasing or 
attractive work,, even in the opinion of the Japanese. 
It is bald and archaic in its form and composition. 
It is, however, notable as being freer from the ad- 
mixture of Chinese learning, and therefore a better 
index of the native culture of the race than the 

' Asiatic Society Transactions , vol. iii., part i. 

^ Asiatic Society Transactions, vol. x., Supplement. 



Il6 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

works which followed it.' Much of it consists of 
mere genealogies of the emperors and naked state- 
.nents of leading events, but there are besides this 
many legends and poems which bear evidence of 
having been handed down in essentially their present 
form. As an authority for the chronology of the early 
events it is, of course, of small value. It is evident 
that where a narrative of events has been carried 
through many centuries by tradition alone, without 
written records to check or assist it, no dependence 
can be placed on the chronology of the events, fur- 
ther than, perhaps, on the order of sequence. 

Only eight years after the publication of the 
Kojiki, a second work termed Nihongi or Chronicles 
of Japan was issued. It was prepared by imperial 
command and appeared in A.D. 720 in the reign of 
the Empress Gensho. It differs from the older book 
in being composed in the Chinese idiom, and in 
being much more tinctured with the ideas of Chinese 
philosophy. These two works, so nearly contem- 
poraneous, both of them composed in so great a 
degree of the legendary elements of Japanese his- 
tory, must be looked upon as marking a distinct 
epoch in the story of Japan. 

1 The Kojiki has been translated into English by Professor B, H. 
Chamberlain, Asiatic Society Transactions^ vol. x., Supplement. 



^^ 


^ 




^&^?^^0^^^^^ 


^^^^^^^S 




^^^H 


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m 


S 




^^^^^^ 




^^^^^^^ 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE MIDDLE AGES OF JAPAN. 

The theory of the Japanese government during 
the greater part of its long career has been that of 
an absolute monarchy. The emperor was supposed 
to hold in his hands the supreme authority, and to 
dispose, as he saw fit, of honors and emoluments, 
offices and administrative duties. There was no 
fundamental law of succession, by which the order 
of accession to the throne was regulated. The 
reigning emperor usually selected during his lifetime 
some one of his sons, or, if he had no sons, some 
other prince of the imperial family, who became the 
crown prince during the life of the emperor, and on 
his death succeeded to the throne.^ The selection 
was usually made with the concurrence of the offi- 
cers of the court, and very often must be credited 
entirely to the preference of these officers. Some- 
times the emperor died before the appointment of a 
crown prince had taken place. In this case the 
selection lay in the hands of the court officers, and 
many cases are recorded in the history of the em- 

^ See Mori Arinori's introduction to Education in Japan, New- 
York, 1873, p. 17. 

117 



Il8 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

pire where serious disturbances arose between the 
partisans of different aspirants to the throne. These 
disturbances usually account for the interregna which 
are so often found between the reigns of successive 
sovereigns. 

To the freedom which has prevailed, not only in 
the imperial house but also in all the families of the 
empire, in regard to the rights of succession, must 
be attributed the long and unbroken line which the 
imperial house of Japan is able to show. That a 
line of sovereigns should continue from the time of 
Jimmu down to the present without break by reason 
of the failure of children, is of course impossible. 
But the difficulty disappears when it is remembered, 
that in case of the failure of a son to succeed, the 
father provided for the want by adopting as his son 
some prince of the imperial family, and appointing 
him as his heir. With this principle of adoption 
must be mentioned the practice of abdication ' which 
produced a marked and constantly recurring in- 
fluence in the history of Japan. Especially was this 
the case in the middle ages of Japanese history. 
The practice spread from the imperial house down- 
wards into all departments of Japanese life. Although 
the principle of abdication and adoption was prob- 
ably brought from China and was adopted by the 
Japanese as a mark of superior culture, yet these 
practices were carried to a much greater extent in 
Japan than was ever thought of in their original 

' See a paper on "Abdication and Adoption," by Mr, Shigeno 
An-Eki, translated by Mr. Walter Dening, in Asiatic Society Trans- 
actions, vol. XV., p. 72, 



THE MIDDLE AGES OF JAPAN.. II9 

home. We shall see in the story of Japanese times 
the amazing and ludicrous extent to which the abdi- 
cation of reigning sovereigns was carried. We shall 
witness even the great and sagacious leyasu himself, 
after holding the office of shogun for only two years, 
retiring in favor of his son Hidetada, and yet from 
his retirement practically exercising the authority of 
the office for many years. 

In A.D. 668 the Emperor Tenji^ began a brief 
reign of three years. As he had been regent during 
the two preceding reigns, and chiefly managed the 
administration, very little change occurred after his 
accession to power. His reign is mainly remarkable 
for the first appearance in a prominent position of 
the Fujiwara family. The emperor appointed his 
counsellor Nakatomi-no-Kamatari as nai-daijirt 
(private minister), an office next in rank after sa- 
daijin, and which was created at this time. Naka- 
tomi, was authorized to assume the family name of 
Fujiwara, meaning wistaria-field. The ancestor of 
this family, Nakatomi-no-Muraji,^ was fabled to 
have come down from the celestial plains to the 
island of Kyushu. The family therefore ranks with 
that of the emperor as the oldest and most honored 
in the empire. From the time of its establishment 
down to the present it has enjoyed many honors and 
privileges, and has played a very distinguished part 
in the history of the country. This family first be- 

' His predecessor died A,d. 661, and there was an interregnum 
during which Tenji was regent till a.d. 668, when he was made 
emperor. 

^ See p. 47, note. 



I20 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

came prominent during the reign of the Emperor 
Kotoku. The Soga family from the times of the 
first introduction of Buddhism had grown to be the 
most powerful and influential in the empire. Umako 
had held the position of daijin and his son Yemishi 
became daijin after his father's death. Yemishi pre- 
sumed upon his promotion to this high office and 
put on the airs of hereditary rank. He built castles 
for himself and son and organized guards for their 
defence. His son Iruka became daijin after his 
father's death and conducted himself with even 
greater arrogance. At last his conduct became in- 
tolerable and he was assassinated A.D. 645. The 
chief actor in this plot was Nakatomi-no-Kamatari, 
who was at this time on intimate terms with the 
prince who afterwards became the Emperor Tenji. 

Further experiences, this time disastrous, with 
Korea were encountered during this reign. A 
Japanese garrison had been maintained in Kudara, 
the western division of Korea. But at this time the 
people of Shiraki with help from China attacked this 
garrison and compelled it to retreat to Japan. Along 
with the Japanese came many of the Koreans who 
had been friendly with them, and who carried with 
them, like the Huguenots when driven from France, 
a knowledge of many arts and a culture which were 
eagerly welcomed by the rising Japanese empire. 
They were colonized in convenient quarters in differ- 
ent provinces, and as an encouragement freed from 
taxation for a time. Their influence upon the 
opening civilization of Japan cannot be overlooked 
or neglected in our estimate of the forces which con- 



THE MIDDLE AGES OF JAPAN, 121 

Spired to produce the final result. In the book of 
Japanese annals called Nihon Shoki there is a state- 
ment ^ that in the fifth month of the second year of 
Reiki (a.d. 717) 1799 Koreans were collected to- 
gether in the province of Musashi and formed the 
district of *' Koma-gori " or Korean district. Again 
in the third year of Tempyo Hdji (a.d. 760) forty in- 
habitants of Shinra (a kingdom of Korea) and thirty- 
four priests and priestesses came to Japan and 
founded the '' Shinra-gori," or Korean district. 
These events occurred not long after the time we 
are now considering and show that the Korean 
colonization still continued and that the influence of 
the arts and culture which the colonists introduced 
was marked and important. 

Few events are noted during the reigns which suc- 
ceeded. The following are the most worthy of men- 
tion. The Emperor Temmu (a.d. 673-686) added sev- 
eral new degrees of rank to those already established. 
He also favored the Buddhist religion by making its 
services obligatory, and by forbidding the eating of 
flesh. Silver was first discovered in Tsushima A.D. 
674, which was followed twenty years later by the 
manufacture of the first silver money. Copper was 
discovered in Musashi in the reign of the Empress 
Gemmyo (a.d. 708-715) and the making of copper 
money came into vogue. Before that time the 
copper money in use was obtained from Korea and 
China. Gold coin is said to have been first issued 
under the Emperor Junnin (a.D. 759-765). An 

^ Quoted in Henry von Siebold's Japanese ArchcBology, Yokohama 
1879, p. 8. 



122 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

observatory was established for the inspection of the 
stars in connection with the new department of 
astrology. The cultivation of the lacquer tree and 
the mulberry and the raising of silk-worms were still 
further encouraged and extended. Cremation was 
first practised about A.D. 700 in the case of a Buddhist 
priest who left directions that his body should be 
burned. Since that time cremation has been em- 
ployed for the disposal of the dead by the Shin (or 
Monto) sect, and is now authorized but not made 
obligatory by the government. The progress made 
by Buddhism is shown by the census of temples 
which was made in the reign of the Empress Jito 
(a.d. 690-702) and which gave the number as 545. 
The publication of the Kojikim A.D. 712, and of the 
Nihongi eight years later, has already been referred 
to at the close of the preceding chapter. These 
works are still looked upon as the foundations of 
Japanese literature and the highest authorities of 
Japanese history. 

In the reign of the Empress Gemmyo (a.D. 710) 
the imperial residence was fixed at Nara. Up to 
this time the custom' derived from antiquity had 
prevailed of changing the residence on the accession 
of each new emperor. But the court continued at 
Nara for a period of seventy-five years running 
through seven reigns ; and in consequence Nara has 
always been looked upon with peculiar reverence, 
and is the seat of several of the most notable 
Buddhist and Shinto temples'" and structures. It is 

1 See p. 58. 

2 Satow and Hawes' Handbook of Japan, London, 1884. 



THE MIDDLE AGES OF JAPAN, 1 23 

here that Kasuga-no-miya was founded in A.D. 767 
and dedicated to the honor of the ancestor of the 
Fujiwara family. Here also is To-dai-ji a Buddhist 
temple famed for containing the bronze statue of 
Great Buddha. This colossal idol was constructed 
in A.D. 736 under the Emperor Shomu, during the 
time that the imperial court resided at Nara. The 
height of the image is fifty-three feet, being seven feet 
higher than the Daibutsu at Kamakura. The temple 
was built over the image and A.D. 1 1 80 was destroyed 
by a fire which melted the head of the image. This 
was replaced. The temple was burned again A.D. 
1567, from which time the image has remained as 
the Japanese say '' a wet god." 

In A.D. 794' during the reign of the Emperor 
Kwammu (a.d. 782-806) the capital was removed to 
Kyoto on the banks of the Kamogawa. The. situa- 
tion and the environs are lovely, and justify the 
affectionate reverence with which it has ever been 
regarded. Here were built the palaces and ofifices 
for the emperor and his court. It was officially 
called Miyako, that is, residence of the sovereign. It 
continued to be occupied as the capital until A.D. 
1868, when the court was moved to Tokyo. At 
this time the name of the city was changed to Saikyo, 
which means western capital, in distinction from 
Tokyo, which means eastern capital. 

The Emishi in the northern part of the Main 
island continued to give much trouble to the govern- 
ment. During the reign of the Emperor Shomu 
(a.d. 724-756) Fujiwara-no-Umakai was sent against 
these restless neighbors and succeeded in reducing 
' For ten years preceding 794 the capital was a wanderer. 



124 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

them to subjection, which lasted longer than usual. 
A fort was built to keep them in subjection, called 
the castle of Taga. There is still standing a stone 
monument at Taga, between Sendai and Matsu- 
shima, on which is an inscription which has been 
translated by Mr. Aston, ^ of the British legation. 
The inscription gives the date of its first construc- 
tion, which corresponds to A.D. 724, and of its 
restoration, A.D. 762. ' Mr. Aston points out that the 
ri here mentioned is not the present Japanese ri 
equivalent to miles 2.44, but the ancient ri which 
is somewhat less than half a mile. This makes it 
evident that the part of the Main island north of a 
point near Sendai was at this time denominated 
Yezo, and was occupied by the barbarous tribes who 
then as now called themselves Yezo. 

The employment of a Fujiwara in this expedition 
was probably purely perfunctory. So far as we 
know, this family, which had by this time risen to a 
position of great influence, was in no respect mili- 
tary, and the appointment of Umakai as chief of the 
forces sent against the Ainos was due to the political 
prominence of his family. For many centuries the 
relations of the Fujiwara family to the imperial 
house was most intimate. Indeed the late Viscount 
Mori,^ in his introduction to Education in Japan^ 

' See the Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. viii,, 
p. 88. The inscription is in part as follows 
Castle of Taga, 

Distant from the capital . . . Ri 1500 



Distant from the frontier of Yezo 
Distant from Hitachi 
Distant from Shimotsuke 
Distant from Makkatsu . 
^ Education in Japan, New York, 1873 



120 

412 

274 

3000 



THE MIDDLE AGES OF JAPAN. 12 5 

Speaks of this relation as a '' proprietorship." " The 
throne for a time became virtually the property of 
one family, who exclusively controlled it." This 
family was that of Fujiwara/ to which reference has 
already been made. The founder of this house, 
Kamatari, was a man of great talent and administra- 
tive ability, and his immediate successors were 
worthy of their ancestor's fame, and in succession 
filled the ofifice of daijin. In this way the ofifice 
came to be regarded as hereditary in the Fujiwara 
family. The office of ktiambaku, also from about 
A.D. 880, became hereditary in the Fujiwara house. 
Owing to the great age and prominence of the 
family, it became customary to marry the emperors 
and princes of the imperial house to ladies taken 
from it, so that after a time the mothers and wives 
of the princes of the imperial house were without 
exception descendants of the Fujiwara, and the 
offices of the court were in the hands of this family. 
In this condition of things the abdication of em- 
perors, before they had reigned long enough to learn 
the duties of their position, became the common 
practice. This vicious custom was encouraged by 
the Fujiwara, because it placed greater authority 
in their hands, and left them to conduct the ad- 
ministration without troublesome interference. The 
Emperor Seiwa (a.d. 859-880) commenced to reign 
when he was nine years of age, and abdicated when 
he was twenty-six."^ Shujaku (A.D. 931-952) became 

^ See p. 47. 

^ These instances are taken from the paper on abdication and 
adoption, by Shigeno An-eki, as translated by Mr. Walter Dening, 
Asiatic Society Transactions, vol. xv,, p. 74. 



126 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

emperor when he was eight years of age and abdi- 
cated at the age of twenty-three. Toba became 
emperor (a.d. i io8) at five years of age, and resigned 
at the age of twenty. Rokujo was made emperor 
j (a.d. ii66) at the age of two and resigned at the 
' age of four. Takakura, who succeeded Rokujo 
(a.d. 1 169), was eight years of age and abdicated at 
the age of nineteen. It often happened that there 
were living at the same time several retired emperors, 
besides the actual emperor.^ Thus, in the period 
when Ichijo began his reign at the age of seven 
(a.d. 987), there were three retired emperors still 
living, viz. : Reizei, who began to reign (a.d. 968) at 
eighteen, and retired at twenty ; Enyu, who began 
to reign (a.D. 970) at eleven, and retired at twenty- 
six ; Kwazan, who began to reign (a.D. 985) at 
seventeen, and retired at nineteen. At a period 
somewhat later than the one now under considera- 
tion, during the reign of Go-Nijo, who had just been 
made emperor (a.d. 1301) at seventeen, and who 
retired at nineteen, there were four retired emperors 
living. When the emperors retired they often went 
into a Buddhist monastery, taking the title of ho-o 
or cloistered emperor. From this sacred seclusion 
they continued many times to wield the powers of 
government. 

The object of this abdication was twofold. The 
sovereigns themselves often became restless and dis- 
satisfied in the Constrained attitude which they were 
compelled to maintain. If they were in the least 

' See Chamberlain's Things yapanese, under the article on abdi- 
cation. Yokohama, 1892. 



THE MIDDLE AGES OF JAPAN, 1 27 

ambitious to meet the requirements of their elevated 
position and realized in any degree the legitimate 
claims which their country had upon them, their 
natural efforts to take part in the administration 
were promptly checked, and they were reminded 
that it was unbecoming and unfitting for the descend- 
ants of the gods to mingle in ordinary earthly affairs. 
In this way it often fell out that the ablest of the 
emperors retired from the actual position of reigning 
emperor in order to free themselves from the re- 
straints of etiquette and from the burden of ennui 
which held them captive. They assumed the dignity 
of retired emperors, and often from their retirement 
wielded a greater influence and exerted a far more 
active part in the administration of affairs than they 
ever had been able to do when upon the imperial 
throne. 

Besides this motive which affected the occupants 
of the throne, there was a corresponding one which 
led the officers of the court to encourage and per- 
haps sometimes to compel the emperors to abdicate. 
These administrative officers, into whose hands the 
management of the government had fallen, were de- 
sirous to retain their authority, and therefore when- 
ever an emperor exhibited signs of independence, or 
any disposition to think or act for himself, they 
contrived means to have him retire and leave in his 
place some inexperienced boy who could be more 
easily controlled. 

In this kind of supervising statesmanship the 
Fujiwara family became, and for centuries remained, 
supreme experts. For a period of four hundred 



128 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

years, from A.D. 645 to 1050, they monopolized 
nearly all the important offices in the government. 
The wives and concubines of the feeble emperors 
were all taken from its inexhaustible repertoire. The 
men of the family, among whom were always some 
of administrative ability, found it a task of no great 
difficulty to rule the emperor who was supposed to 
be divinely inspired to rule the empire, especially 
when he was usually a boy whose mother, wife, and 
court favorites were all supplied from the Fujiwara 
family. This kind of life and environment could 
not fail to produce on the successive emperors a 
sadly demoralizing effect. They were brought up 
in an enervating atmosphere and their whole life 
was spent in arts and employments which, instead 
of developing in them a spirit of independence and 
a high ambition and ability to govern well the em- 
pire committed to them, led them to devote them- 
selves to pleasures, and to leave to others less 
fortunate the duty of administering the affairs of 
government. 

The same circumstances which demoralized the 
occupants of the imperial throne served in a certain 
though less degree to enervate and enfeeble the 
Fujiwara family. Although they sometimes appointed 
one of their number the commander of an expedi- 
tion against the Emishi, or to put down fresh revolts 
in the island of KyQshu, yet his duties were purely 
honorary. He usually remained at home and sent 
one or more of the active military chieftains to lead 
the forces against the enemy in the field. If the 
expedition was successful, however, the honorary 



THE MIDDLE AGES OF JAPAN. 1 29 

commander did not forget to have himself duly 
promoted, and rewarded with additional lands and 
income. 

Other families besides the Fujiwara, rose in these 
long and weary centuries to prominence, and seemed 
on the point of disputing the security of their posi- 
tion. Thus the Tachibana in the eighth century at- 
tained high honors and distinction. It was an old 
family, and even as far back as the legend of Yamato- 
dake ^ we find that a princess of the Tachibana 
family was his wife, who sacrificed herself in the bay 
of Yedo to appease the turbulent waters. It was 
Maroye, a member of the Tachibana family and a 
favorite of the Emperor Shomu (a.d. 724-756), who 
compiled the collection of ancient Japanese poetry 
called Man-yoshu or collection of Myriad Leaves. 

Another family which attained prominence was 
the Sugawara. It originated in the province of 
Kawachi. The most noted' representative of this 
family was Sugawara Michizane, who was first con- 
spicuous as the teacher of the young prince who 
afterward became the Emperor Uda (a.d. 888-898). 
He was a brilliant scholar in Chinese, which was 
then the learned language of the East. Even down 
to modern times his family has been devoted to 
learning. The Sugawara^ and Oye families both 
had adopted literature as their hereditary profession, 
and the government made them an allowance for 

^ See p. 66 ei seq. 

^ At the time that Dickson collected his statistics of the families 
of the court, two of the Sugawara family were teachers of the young 
emperor. Six families of kuges count their descent from the Suga- 
wara. Dickson's yapan, London, 1869, p. 59. 



130 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

the expenses^ of those who might be pursuing their 
studies in the national university. The influence of 
Michizane over the emperor was marked and salu- 
tary. Under his wise tutelage Uda showed so much 
independence that the Fujiwara Kzuavibaku found 
means to lead him to abdicate in favor of his son, 
who became the sixtieth emperor, and is known 
under the historic name of Daigo. Michizane be- 
came the counsellor and was created nai-daijin under 
the new emperor, who at the time of his accession 
was only fourteen years old. But the Kwambaku 
Tokihira determined to free himself from the ad- 
verse influence of this wise and honest counsellor. 
So he had him sent in a kind of honorable banish- 
ment to Dazaifu, the seat of the vice-royalty of the 
island of Kyushu. It is said that he died here in 
A.D. 903. There was a great re-action in regard to 
him after his death, and he was canonized under the 
name of Tenjin ^ (Heavenly god), and is held sacred 
as the patron saint of men of letters and of students. 
The twenty-fifth day of each month is kept as a 
holiday in schools, sacred to Tenjin-Sama, and the 
twenty-fifth of June as an annual matsiiri. 

But the families which finally displaced the Fuji- 
wara from their position of supremacy were what 
were technically called the military families. The 
separa'jion of officers into civil and military was 

' See chapter on " Education in the Early Ages," by Otsuki Sinji, 
in Japanese Education, New York, 1876, p. 64. 

^ While I M'rite these lines there is hanging before me a kakemono 
representing Sugawara Michizane, which it has been proposed to hang 
in every public school under the care of the Department of Educa- 
tion, as an emblem of the true scholarly temperament. 



132 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

made under the reforms introduced from China. 
The Fujiwara in the main restricted themselves to 
civil duties. Wherever it was necessary to send 
military expeditions against the barbarians of the 
north, or rebels in Kyushu, or into the disaffected 
districts of Korea, commanders were selected from 
families devoted to military service. The Taira 
family was of this class. Hei is the Chinese equiva- 
lent of the Japanese name Taira, and is more often 
used in the literature of the times. The Taira 
family sprang from the Emperor Kwammu (a.d. 
782-806) through one of his concubines. The great- 
grandson of Kwammu, Takamochi, received permis- 
sion to adopt the name of Taira, and thus became 
the founder of the family. They were the military 
vassals of the crown for many generations. 

A Httle later than the Taira arose another family, 
the Minamoto, whose equivalent Chinese name was 
Gen. It sprang from the Emperor Seiwa (a.d. 859- 
880). His son Tadazumi became minister of war. 
Tadazumi had two sons, who were granted the 
family name of Minamoto ; the descendants of one 
of them, Tsunemoto, being created military vassals. 

The almost constant wars in which the empire 
was engaged led to the extension of the military 
class. From the time now under discussion the 
military class came to be looked upon as a distinct 
and separate part of the population. It was com- 
posed of those who in the time of war showed an 
aptitude for arms, and who were most serviceable 
in the campaigns which they undertook. Gradually 
they became distinct from the agricultural peasantry, 



THE MIDDLE AGES OF JAPAN. 133 

and by education and training came to look upon 
arms as their legitimate profession. They naturally 
attached themselves to the military commanders 
who led them in their various expeditions, and thus 
were in time regarded as the standing troops of the 
empire. This growth of a military class, whose 
commanders were restless and ambitious, gradually 
undermined the authority which the Fujiwara up to 
the tenth century had almost unrestrictedly exer- 
cised. The employment of commanders from the 
military families raised in them an ambition to share 
in the powers of government. The struggles which 
ensued, first between the Fujiwara and Taira, and 
then between the Taira and Minamoto, continued to 
keep the country embroiled for more than a century. 
The suffering and desolation resulting from these 
weary internecine wars can only be paralleled by 
such conflicts as that between the White and Red 
Roses in England, or the Thirty Years' War in Ger- 
many. Of these struggles it will be possible to give 
only an outline. 

It has already been mentioned that the Taira 
family sprang from the Emperor Kwammu,* whose 
great-grandson, Takamochi received permission to 
take Taira as his family name. The Emperor 
Shirakawa tired of the arrogance of the Fujiwara in 
A.D. 1087 retired into a cloister, and from this 
seclusion continued to exercise a controlling influence 
in the conduct of affairs. Tadamori a descendant 
of Taira-no-Takamochi was a favorite in his court, 
and even had a liaison with one of his concubines. 
^ See p. 132. 



134 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

The ex-emperor complaisantly informed the courtier 
that if the child to be born proved to be a daughter 
he himself would adopt it, but if a son then it should 
belong to Tadamori. Accordingly the child being a 
son was a Taira, and rose to great eminence as Taira- 
no-Kiyomori. Tadamori acquired for himself great 
credit by his successful expedition against Korean 
pirates who had cruised along the eastern coasts of 
Japan. In the troubles which subsequently arose 
in reference to the succession the Taira took an im- 
portant part. The Emperor Toba, who succeeded to 
the throne in A.D. 1108 at the age of six, abdicated 
in A D. 1 123 at the age of twenty-six. Both his father, 
the ex-Emperor Horikawa, and his grandfather, the 
ex-Emperor Shirakawa, were still living in retirement. 
He was succeeded by his son the Emperor Shutoku 
in A.D. 1 1 24, then six years old, who after reigning 
seventeen years abdicated. He had a son but was 
succeeded A.D. 1 142 by his brother Konoye who was 
four years of age. This mature youth reigned 
thirteen years and died without abdicating. On his 
death-bed he adopted as the crown prince his brother 
Go-Shirakawa, thus displacing the lineal heir. The 
succession was now bitterly disputed. The Mina- 
moto chiefly espoused the cause of the displaced 
heir, while Kiyomori and the Taira together with 
Minamoto-no-Yoshitomo supported Go-Shirakawa. 
In a battle fought A.D. 11 56 Kyomori won the 
victory. This victory raised him to a pinnacle of 
power. He began a career of nepotism and patron- 
age which was not inferior to that of the Fujiwara. 
The ex-Emperor Shutoku and his son were banished 



THE MIDDLE AGES OF JAPAN, 1 35 

to the province of Sanuki where it is said that 
Shutoku died of starvation. Tametomo a member 
of the Minamoto clan who was famed for his great 
strength and for his skill in archery was sent as an 
exile to the island of Hachijo, southeast of the prom- 
ontory of Izu. From this island he escaped, and it 
is a tradition that he made his way to the Ryukyu 
islands where he rose to prominence and became the 
ancestor of the kings of these islands. 

Yoshitomo of the Minamoto clan, who had sided 
with Kiyomori in the recent dynastic conflict was a 
brother of the Tametomo just mentioned. He was 
greatly offended by the violent use which Kiyomori 
made of the power which had come into his hands. 
With all the Minamoto and Fu.jiwara he conspired 
to overthrow the victorious and arrogant Taira. But 
Kiyomori suspecting the plans of his enemies took 
measures to counteract them and suddenly fell upon 
th( m in the city of Kyoto. Yoshitomo was obliged 
to save himself by fleeing to Owari, where he was 
assassinated by the agents of Kiyomori. The death 
of the head of the Minamoto only made the tyrant 
more determined to crush all opposition. Even the 
ex-Emperor Go-Shirakawa, who was a son-in-law of 
Kiyomori, but who showed some signs of disapproval, 
was sent into exile. Several of the sons of Yoshitomo 
were put to death ; but Yoritomo then a boy of 
thirteen was saved by the interference of the mother- 
in-law of Kiyomori, and was sent into exile in the 
province of Izu, and put into the safe-keeping of two 
faithful Taira men, one of whom Hojo Tokimasa 
will be heard of hereafter. 



136 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

Besides the four sons of Yoshitomo by his wife, 
he had also three sons by a concubine named Toki- 
wa. She was a woman of great beauty, and for that 
reason as well as because she was the mother of the 
romantic hero Yoshitsune, she has often been chosen 
by Japanese artists as the subject of their pictures. 
Tokiwa and her three children, of whom Yoshitsune 
was then an infant at the breast, fled at the breaking 
out of the storm upon Yoshitomo and the Minamoto 
clan. They are often represented as wandering 
through a storm of snow, Yoshitsune being carried 
as an infant on the back of his mother, and the 
other two little ones pattering along with unequal 
steps at her side. In this forlorn condition they 
were met by one of the Taira soldiers, who took pity 
on them and gave them shelter. From him they 
learned that Kiyomori had taken the mother of To- 
kiwa prisoner, and held her in confinement, knowing 
that this would surely bring back to him the fair 
fugitive and her children. In the Chinese teachings 
of that day, in which Tokiwa had been educated, 
the duty of a child to its mother was paramount to 
that of a mother to her child. So Tokiwa felt that 
it was unquestionably her duty to go back at once 
to the capital and surrender herself in order to pro- 
cure the release of her mother. But her maternal 
heart rebelled when she remembered that her babes 
would surely be sacrificed by this devotion. Her 
woman's wit devised a scheme which might possibly 
furnish a way between these terrible alternatives. 
She determined to surrender herself and her children 
to Kiyomori, and depend upon her beauty to save 



I 



THE MIDDLE AGES OF JAPAN, 1 37 

them from the fate which had been pronounced 
upon all the Minamoto. So with her little flock she 
went back and gave herself up to the implacable 
tyrant. Softened by her beauty and urged by a 
number of his courtiers, he set her mother at liberty 
in exchange for her becoming his concubine, and 
distributed her children in separate monasteries. 
The chief interest follows the youngest boy, Yoshi- 
tsune, who was sent to the monastery at Kurama 
Yama^ near Kyoto. Here he grew up a vigorous 
and active youth, more devoted to woodcraft, 
archery, and fencing than to the studies and devo- 
tions of the monastery. At sixteen years of age he 
was urged by the priests to become a monk and to 
spend the rest of his days in praying for the soul of 
his father. But he refused, and shortly after he 
escaped from the monastery in company with a 
merchant who was about to visit the northern prov- 
inces. Yoshitsune reached Mutsu, where he entered 
the service of Fujiwara-no-Hidehira, then governor 
of the province. Here he spent several years devot- 
ing himself to the military duties which chiefly 
pertained to the government of that rough and bar- 
barous province. He developed into the gallant 
and accomplished soldier who played a principal 
part in the wars which followed, and became the 
national hero around whose name have clustered the 
choicest traditions of his country. 

Meanwhile, as we have seen, Yoritomo,^ the oldest 

^ See Satow and Hawes* Handbook, p. 383. 

" He was born in A.D. 1146 and therefore was twelve years older 
than Yoshitsune. 



138 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

son of Yoshitomo, and by inheritance the head of 
the Minamoto clan, had been banished to Izu and 
committed to the care of two faithful Taira adher- 
ents. Yoritomo married Masago, the daughter of 
Hojo Tokimasa, one of these, and found means to 
induce Tokimasa to join him in his plans to over- 
throw the tyrant Kiyomori, who now ruled the 
empire with relentless severity. Even the retired 
emperor joined in this conspiracy and wrote letters 
to Yoritomo urging him to lead in the attempt to 
put down the Taira. Yoritomo summoned the 
scattered members of the Minamoto clan and all the 
disaffected elements of every kind to his assistance. 
It does not seem that this summons was responded 
to with the alacrity which was hoped for. The in- 
experience of Yoritomo and the power and resources 
of him against whom they were called upon to array 
themselves, led the scattered enemies of Kiyomori 
to hesitate to join so hopeless a cause. The rendez- 
vous of the Minamoto was at Ishibashi Yama, and it 
is said that only three hundred men gathered at the 
call. They were followed and attacked by a greatly 
superior force, and utterly routed. It is a tradition 
that Yoritomo and six friends, who had escaped 
from the slaughter of this battle, hid themselves in 
the hollow of an immense tree. Their pursuers, in 
searching for them, sent one of their number to 
examine this tree. He was secretly a friend of the 
Minamoto, and when he discovered the fugitives he 
told them to remain, and announced to those who 
sent him that the tree was empty. He even inserted 
his spear into the hollow and turned it about to 



THE MIDDLE AGES OF JAPAN. 1 39 

show that there was nothing there. When he did 
this two doves * flew out, and the artful soldier 
reported that spiders' webs were in the mouth of the 
opening. 

Yoritomo now fled to the promontory of Awa, 
east of what became known afterward as Yedo bay. 
He sent messages in every direction summoning the 
enemies of Kiyomori to join him. His brother 
Yoshitsune gathered what forces he could from the 
north and marched to the region which was to be- 
come famous as the site of Kamakura. He was 
joined by others of his clan and soon felt himself in 
such a position as to assume the aggressive. He 
fixed upon Kamakura as his headquarters about A.D. 
1 180, and as his power increased it grew to be a 
great city. It was difficult of access from Kyoto and 
by fortifying the pass of Hakone/ where the moun- 
tainous regions of Shinano come down to the eastern 
coast not far from Fujisan, it was rendered safe from 
attacks coming from the south. 

While these notes of preparation were being 
sounded Kiyomori, who as daijo-daijin had ruled 
the empire for many years, died A.D. 1 181, at the 
age of sixty-four. He was fully aware of the por- 
tentous clouds which were gathering around his 
family. On his death-bed he is said to have warned 
them of the danger arising from the plans of Yori- 

^ Doves are not eaten by the Minamoto to this day, owing, it is 
said, to this miraculous interposition in behalf of Yoritomo. 

^ About A.D. 161 8 Hakone was created a barrier to separate the 
eastern from the central provinces. Persons were not allowed to go 
through this barrier without a passport. 



I40 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

tomo. According to the Nihon-Gwaishi, he said, 
" My regret is only that I am dying, and have not 
yet seen the head of Yoritomo of the Minamoto. 
After my decease do not make offerings to Buddha 
on my behalf nor read sacred books. Only cut off 
the head of Yoritomo of the Minamoto and hang it 
on my tomb." 

The death of Kiyomori * hastened the triumph of 
Yo'ritomo. Munemori the son of Kiyomori became 
the head of the Taira clan, and continued the con- 
test. But Yoritomo's combinations speedily reduced 
the country to his power. Yoshitsune with his army 
from the north was at Kamakura ; Yoshinaka, a 
cousin of Yoritomo, was in command of an army 
gathered in the highlands of Shinano ; while Yori- 
tomo himself led the forces collected in Awa, Kazusa 
and Musashi. The point to which all the armies 
were directed was the capital where the Taira were 
still in full control. Yoshinaka was the first to come 
in collision with the forces of the capital. Munemori 
had sent out an army to oppose Yoshinaka who was 
swiftly approaching along the Nakasendo. The 
Taira army was completely defeated and Yoshinaka 
marched victoriously into the capital. Munemori 
with the reigning emperor Antoku, then only a child 
six years of age, and all the imperial court crossed 
the Inland sea to Sanuki, the northern province of 
the island of Shikoku. The two retired emperors 
Go-Shirakawa, and Takakura who sympathized with 

1 In A.D. 1286, more than a century after his death, a monument 
was erected to Kiyomori in Hyogo which still exists. Satow and 
Hawes' Handbook, p. 338. 



THE MIDDLE AGES OF JAPAN. I41 

the revolutionary movements of Yoritomo, remained 
behind and welcomed Yoshinaka to the capital. 
The retirement of the emperor from the palace was 
taken as his abdication, and his younger brother, 
Go-Toba, then seven years old, was proclaimed em- 
peror. 

Yoshinaka, puffed up by his rapid success, and 
disregarding the paramount position of Yoritomo, 
assumed the superintendence of the government and 
had himself appointed sei-i-shogun^ which was the 
highest military title then bestowed upon a subject. 
He even went so far as to antagonize Yoritomo and 
undertook to pluck the fruits of the military move- 
ments which had brought about this revolution of 
the government. 

Yoritomo at once despatched Yoshitsune at the 
head of his army to Kyoto to put down this most 
unexpected and unnatural defection. He met 
Yoshinaka's army near lake Biwa and inflicted upon 
it a severe defeat. Overwhelmed with shame and 
knowing that he deserved no consideration at the 
hands of his outraged relatives, Yoshinaka committed 
suicide. Yoshitsune then followed the fugitive 
court. He destroyed the Taira palace at Hyogo, 

^ The title of shogun is said to have been created by the Emperor 
Sujin, who divided the empire into four military divisions, each 
commanded by a shogun or general. When Yoshinaka assumed 
control in Kyoto at the time of his victory he was appointed sei-i- 
shogun (barbarian compelling general). Subsequently Yoritomo 
secured the supreme military authority and having resigned the civil 
offices held by him he was appointed by imperial edict sei-i-tai-shogun 
or great barbarian compelling general. 

See G. Appert's yi««>;? Japon, vol. iii., p. 84; also Satow's note 
to Adams' History of Japan, vol. i., p. 42. 



142 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

and then crossed over to SanukI, whither the court 
had fled. Alarmed by the swift vengeance which 
was pursuing them, Munemori together with the 
emperor and his mother and all the court hastily 
embarked for what they hoped might be an asylum 
in the island of Kyushu. They were pursued by 
the Minamoto army in the junks which had brought 
them to Sanuki. They were overtaken at Dan-no- 
ura not far from the village of Shimonoseki, in the 
narrow straits at the western extremity of the Inland 
sea. The naval battle which here took place is the 
most famous in the annals of the Japanese empire. 
According to the Nihon-Gwaishi the Taira fleet con- 
sisted of five hundred junks, and the Minamoto of 
seven hundred. The vessels of the Taira were en- 
cumbered by many women and children of the 
escaping families, which put them at a great disad- 
vantage. The young emperor, with his mother and 
grandmother, were also the precious freight of this 
fugitive fleet. Of course, at this early date the 
vessels which contended were unlike the monstrous 
men-of-war which now make naval warfare so stu- 
pendous a game. They were not even to be com- 
pared with the vessels which made up the Spanish 
Armada in A.D. 1588, or the ships in which the 
gallant British sailors repulsed them. Cannon were 
no part of their armament. The men fought with 
bows and arrows, and with spears and swords. It 
was, however, a terrible hand-to-hand fight between 
men who felt that their all was at stake. Story- 
tellers draw from this battle some of their most lurid 
narratives, and artists have depicted it with realistic 



THE MIDDLE AGES OF JAPAN. 1 43 

horrors. The grandmother of the emperor, the 
widow of Kiyomori, seeing that escape was impos- 
sible, took the boy emperor in her arms, and in spite 
of the remonstrances of her daughter, who was the 
boy's mother, she plunged into the sea, and both 
were drowned. 

The great mass of the Taira perished in this battle, 
but a remnant escaped to the island of Kyushu and 
hid themselves in the inaccessible valleys of the 
province of Higo. Here they have been recognized 
in recent times, and it is claimed that they still show 
the surly aversion to strangers which is an inheri- 
tance derived from the necessity under which they 
long rested to hide themselves from the vengeance 
which pursued them.' 

This battle was decisive in the question of suprem- 
acy between the Taira and Minamoto clans. The 
same policy of extermination which Kiyomori had 
pursued against the Minamoto was now remorse- 
lessly enforced by the Minamoto against the Taira. 
The prisoners who were taken in the battle were 
executed to the last man. Munemori was taken 
prisoner and decapitated. Whenever a Taira man, 
woman, or child was found, death was the inevitable 
penalty inflicted. Yoritomo stationed his father-in- 
law Hojo Tokimasa at Kyoto to search out and 
eradicate his enemies as well as to supervise the 
affairs of the government. 

^ Adams, in his History of Japan, vol. i., p. 37, gives a quaint 
quotation from Nihon-Gwaishi as follows: "The crimes of the 
Heishi against the imperial family were atoned for by their services, 
and heaven therefore would not cut off their posterity. And this 
probably was right." 



144 ^^^ STORY OF JAPAN. 

It will be remembered that Go-Toba, a mere 
child (a.D. 1 1 86) only seven years of age, had been 
put on the throne, in the place of the fugitive An- 
toku. Now that the latter had perished at Dan-no- 
ura, there could be no question about the legitimacy 
and regularity of Go-Toba's accession. The retired 
Ernperor Go-Shirakawa, who had been a friend and 
promoter of the schemes of Yoritomo, was still alive, 
and rendered important aid in the re-organization of 
the governmjent. 

The darkest blot upon the character of Yoritomo 
is his treatment of his youngest brother Yoshitsune. 
It was he who had by his generalship and gallantry 
brought these terrible wars to a triumphant con- 
clusion. He had crushed in the decisive battle of 
Dan-no-ura the last of the enemies of Yoritomo. 
With his victorious troops he marched northward, 
and with prisoners and captured standards was on 
his way to lay them at the feet of his now trium- 
phant brother at Kamakura. But the demon of jeal- 
ousy had taken possession of Yoritomo. He resented 
the success and fame of his more winning and heroic 
brother. He sent orders to him not to enter Kama- 
kura, and to give up his trophies of battle at Koshi- 
goye near to Enoshima. Here at the monastery of 
Mampukuji is still kept the draft of the touching 
letter' which he sent to his brother, protesting his 
loyalty and denying the charges of ambition and 
self-seeking which had been made against him. But 
all this availed nothing. Yoshitsune returned to 
Kyoto and, in fear of bodily harm from the machina 

' See Satow ^nd Hawes' Handbook, p. 57. 



THE MIDDLE AGES OF JAPAN. I45 

tions of his brother, made his escape with his faithful 
servant Benkei/ into his old asylum with his friend 
Fujiwara Hidehira the governor of Mutsu. Shortly- 
after his arrival, however, Hidehira died, and his son 
Yasuhira abjectly connived at his assassination ^ 
A.D. 1 1 89, with a view to secure Yoritomo's favor. 

' There are almost as many legends current concerning Benkei as 
his master. Their first encounter was upon the Gojo bridge in Kyoto, 
where Benkei prowled for the purpose of robbing passengers. Yoshi- 
tsune, then only a youth of sixteen years, displayed so much agility 
and swordsmanship that the veteran robber yielded to him, and ever 
after followed him as his faithful body servant. The Japanese Fairy 
World, by W. E. Griffis, contains the legend of Benkei stealing a 
huge bell five feet high from the monastery at Miidera, and carrying 
it on his shoulders to Hiyesan (see p. 93), When Yoshitsune was 
compelled to flee from the vengeance of his brother, he came with 
Benkei, both disguised as begging priests, to a guarded barrier. 
The custodians refused them passage, but Benkei, who was cunning 
as well as strong, pulled out from his bosom a roll of blank paper 
and pretended to read a commission from the abbot of Hokoji, in 
Kyoto, authorizing the two travellers to collect funds throughout the 
country for casting a great bell for their temple. The custodians 
were deeply impressed with this holy message and allowed the 
travellers to pass without further question. 

^ There are many legends, existing among the Ainos, of Yoshitsune 
having lived among them and taught them improved arts of hunting 
and fishing. There is a wooden image of him at the village of Upper 
Piratori, which is saluted (not worshipped) in token of honor to his 
memory. Rev. John Batchelor, who has lived as a missionary among 
the Ainos many years, is of the opinion that this reverence is largely 
due to a desire on the part of the Ainos to conciliate their Japanese 
masters. It has seemed not unreasonable to suppose that the tradi- 
tions concerning Yoshitsune among the Ainos have been carried from 
the Main island by the retreating tribes, and that Yoshitsune never 
lived with them in Yezo, but was only familiar with them in the wild 
regions of Mutsu and Dewa. 

See paper by Rev. J. Batchelor, Asiatic Society Transactions, vol. 
xvi., part i, p. 20. 



146 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

He was at the time of his death only thirty years of 
age. He has Hved down to the present time in the 
admiring affection of a warhke and heroic people. 
Although Yoritomo is looked upon as perhaps their 
greatest hero, yet their admiration is always coupled 
with dL proviso concerning his cruel treatment of his 
brother. 

In order not to rest under the imputation of having 
encouraged this assassination, Yoritomo marched at 
the head of a strong force and inflicted punishment 
upon Yasuhira for having done what he himself de- 
sired but dared not directly authorize. 

The way was now clear for Yoritomo to establish 
a system of government which should secure to him 
and his family the fruits of his long contest. In 
A.D. 1 190, he went up to the capital to pay his re- 
spects to the Emperor Go-Toba as well as to the 
veteran retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa. The latter 
was now in his sixty-sixth year, and had held his 
place through five successive reigns, and was now 
the friend and patron of the new government. He 
died, however, only two years later. Yoritomo knew 
the effect produced by a magnificent display, and 
therefore made his progress to the capital with all 
the pomp and circumstance which he could com- 
mand. The festivities were kept up for a month, 
and the court and its surroundings were deeply im- 
pressed with a sense of the power and irresistible 
authority of the head of the Minamoto clan. 

Yoritomo did not, however, choose to establish 
himself at Kyoto amid the atmosphere of effeminacy 
which surrounded the court. After his official visit, 



J 



THE MIDDLE AGES OF JAPAN. 1 47 

during which every honor and rank which could be 
bestowed by the emperor were showered upon his 
head and all his family and friends, he returned to 
his own chosen seat at Kamakura. Here he busied 
himself in perfecting a system which, while it would 
perpetuate his own power, would also build up a firm 
national government. 

His first step, A.D. 1 184, was to establish a council 
at which affairs of state were discussed, and which 
furnished a medium through which the administra- 
tion might be conducted. The president of this 
council was Oye-no-Hiromoto.' Its jurisdiction per- 
cained at first to the Kwanto— that is, to the part of 
the country east of the Hakone barrier. This region 
was more completely under the control of the 
Minamoto, and therefore could be more easily and 
surely submitted to administrative methods. He 
also established a criminal tribunal to take cog- 
nizance of robberies and other crimes which, during 
the lawless and violent disturbances in the country, 
had largely prevailed. 

But the step, which was destined to produce the 
most far-reaching results, consisted in his obtaining 
from the emperor the appointment of five of his own 
family as governors of provinces, promising on his 
part to supervise their actions and to be responsible 
for the due performance of their duty. Up to this 
time the governors and vice-governors of provinces 

^ Oye-no-Hiromoto was a powerful adherent of Yoritomo, and was 
a member of his administrative council. He was the ancestor of 
the Mori family, who afterward became famous as the daimyos of 
Choshu. 



148 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

had always been appointed from civil life and were 
taken from the families surrounding the imperial 
court. He also was authorized to send into each 
province a military man, who was to reside there, to 
aid the governor in military affairs. Naturally, the 
military man, being the more active, gradually ab 
sorbed much of the power formerly exercised by 
the governor. These military men were under the 
authority of Yoritomo and formed the beginning of 
that feudal system which was destined to prevail so 
long in Japan. He also received from the court, 
shortly after his visit to Kyoto, the title of sei-i-tau 
shoguit, which was the highest military title which 
had ever been bestowed on a subject. This is the 
title which, down to A.D. 1868, was borne by the 
real rulers of Japan. The possession of the power 
implied by this title enabled Yoritomo to introduce 
responsible government into the almost ungoverned 
districts of the empire, and to give to Japan for the 
first time in many centuries a semblance of peace. 

There were also many minor matters of adminis- 
tration which Yoritomo, in the few remaining years 
of his life, put in order. He obtained from the 
emperor permission to levy a tax on the agricultural 
products of the country, from which he defrayed the 
expenses of the military government. He estab- 
lished tribunals for the hearing and determining of 
causes, and thus secured justice in the ordinary 
affairs of life. He forbade the priests and monks 
in the great Buddhist monasteries, who had become 
powerful and arrogant, to bear arms, or to harbor 
those bearing arms. 

' See note, p. 141. 



THE MIDDLE AGES OF JAPAN. 



149 



In all these administrative reforms Yoritomo was 
careful always to secure the assent and authority of 
the imperial court.' In no case did he assume or 




YORITOMO. 



' We owe to Kaempfer, perhaps, the erroneous notion which has 
been repeated by subsequent writers that there was both an ecclesias- 
tical and a temporal emperor. This was never true. There has 
been only one emperor, who, in the Japanese theory, was the direct 
descendant of divine ancestors and who has always been the supreme 
authority. From the time of Yoritomo, however, the administration 
was in the hand of an hereditary shogun who always received the 
commission of the emperor for the performance of his duties. Sea 
Kaempfer's Histoire de T Empire dtt Japon^ vol. i., p. 1 82, 



I50 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

exercise independent authority. In this way was 
introduced at this time that system of dual gov- 
ernment which continued until the resignation of 
the Tokugawa Shogun in 1868. After his first visit 
to Kyoto, in A.D. 1190, Yoritomo devoted the re- 
maining years of his life to the confirmation of his 
power and the encouragement of the arts of peace 
In A.D. 1 195 he made a second magnificent visit to 
Kyoto and remained four months. It is because of 
these peaceful results, which followed the long inter- 
necine struggles, that the Japanese regard Yoritomo 
as one of their most eminent and notable men. 
Under the influence of his court Kamakura grew to 
be a great city and far outranked even Kyoto in 
power and activity, though not in size. 

In the autumn of the year A,D. 1 198, when return- 
ing from the inspection of a new bridge over the 
Sagami river, he had a fall from his horse which 
seriously injured him. He died from the effects of 
this fall in the early part of the following year, in 
the fifty-third year of his age. He had wielded the 
unlimited military power for the last fifteen years. 
His death was almost as much of an epoch in the 
history of Japan as his life had been. We shall see 
in the chapters which follow the deplorable results 
of that system of effeminacy and nepotism, of abdi- 
cation and regency, which Yoritomo had to resist, 
and which, had he lived twenty years more, his 
country might have escaped. 



I 



CHAPTER VII. 

EMPEROR AND SHOGUN. 

The death of Yoritomo brought into prominence 
the very same system which had been the bane of 
the imperial house during many centuries. His son 
and the hereditary successor to his position and power 
was Yoriiye, then eighteen years of age. He was 
the son of Masago, and therefore the grandson of 
Hojo Tokimasa, who had been Yoritomo's chief 
friend and adviser. He was an idle, vicious boy, 
and evinced no aptitude to carry on the work of his 
father. In this wayward career he was not checked 
by his grandfather, and is even said to have been 
encouraged to pursue a life of pleasure and gayety, 
while the earnest work of the government was trans- 
acted by others. Tokimasa assumed the duties of 
president of the Council as well as guardian of 
Yoriiye, and in these capacities conducted the ad- 
ministration entirely according to his own will. The 
appointments of position and rank which the father 
had received from the emperor were in like manner 
bestowed upon the son. He was made head of the 
military administrators stationed in the several 
provinces, and he also received the military title of 

151 



152 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

sei-i-tai-shogun, to which Yoritomo had been ap- 
pointed. But these appointments were only honor- 
ary, and the duties pertaining to them were all 
performed by the guardian of the young man. 

In the year A.D. 1203, that is in the fourth year 
succeeding Yoritomo's death, Yoriiye was taken 
sick, and was unable to fulfil his duties even in the 
feeble manner which was customary. His mother 
consulted with Tokimasa, and they agreed that 
Yoriiye should abdicate and surrender the headship 
of the military administration to his brother Semman, 
who was twelve years of age, and his son Ichiman. 
Yoriiye seems to have resisted these suggestions, 
and even resorted to force to free himself from the 
influence of the Hojo. But Tokimasa was too 
powerful to be so easily dispensed with. Yoriiye 
was compelled to yield, and he retired to a monastery 
and gave up his offices. Not content with this 
living retirement, Tokimasa contrived to have him 
assassinated. Semman, his brother, was appointed 
sei-i-tai-shogun, and his name changed to Sanetomo. 
But Sanetomo did not long enjoy his promotion, 
because his nephew, the son of his murdered prede- 
cessor, deemed him responsible for his father's 
murder, and took occasion to assassinate himo Then 
in turn the nephew was put to death for this crime, 
and thus by the year A.D. 12 19 the last of the 
descendants of the great Yoritomo had perished. In 
the meantime Tokimasa had, A.D. 1205, retired to a 
Buddhist monastery in his sixty-eighth year, and in 
A.D. 1 2 16, when he was seventy-eight, he died. The 
court at Kamakura was now prepared to go on in 



EMPEROR AND SHOGUN. 1 53 

its career of effeminacy after the pattern of that at 
Kyoto. 

Mesago, the widow of Yoritomo and daughter of 
Tokimasa, although she too had taken refuge in a 
Buddhist nunnery, continued to exercise a ruHng 
control in the affairs of the government. She 
solicited from the court at Kyoto the appointment 
of Yoritsune, a boy of the Fujiwara family, only two 
years old, as sei-i-tai-shogun in the place of the mur- 
dered Sanetomo. The petition was granted, and 
this child was entrusted to the care of the Hojo, 
who, as regents^ of the shogun, exercised with un- 
limited sway the authority of this great office. The 
situation of affairs in Japan at this time was deplor- 
able. Go-Toba and Tsuchi-mikado were both living 
in retirement as ex-emperors. Juntoku was the 
reigning emperor, who was under the influence and 
tutelage of the ex-Emperor Go-Toba. Fretting 
under the arrogance of the Hojo, Go-Toba under- 
took to resist their claims. But Yoshitoku, the 
Hojo regent at this time, quickly brought the Kyoto 
court to terms by the use of his military power. 
The ex-Emperor Go-Toba was compelled to be- 
come a monk, and was exiled to the island of Oki. 
The Emperor Juntoku was forced to abdicate, and 
was banished to Sado, and a grandson of the former 
Emperor Takakura placed on the throne. Even the 
ex-Emperor Tsuchi-mikado, who had not taken any 
part in the conspiracy, was sent off to the island of 
Shikoku. The lands that had belonged to the 
implicated nobles were confiscated and distributed 

* The Japanese term is Shikken, which is usually translated regent. 



154 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

by Yoshitoku among his own adherents. The power 
of the Hojo family was thus raised to its supreme 
point. They ruled both at Kyoto and Kamakura 
with resistless authority. They exercised at both 
places this authority without demanding or receiv- 
ing the appointment to any of the high positions 
which they might have claimed. They were only 
the regents of young and immature shoguns. who 
were the appointees of a court which had at its head 
an emperor without power or influence, and which 
was controlled by the creatures of their own desig- 
nation. This lamentable state of things lasted for 
many years. The shoguns during all this time were 
children sent from Kyoto, sons of emperors or 
connections of the royal family. The Hojo ruled 
them as well as the country. Whenever it seemed 
best, they relentlessly deposed them, and set up 
others in their places. In A.D. 1289 the Regent 
Sadatoki, it is said, became irritated with one of 
these semi-royal shoguns, named Koreyasu, and in 
order to show his contempt for him, had him put in 
a nori-mono^ with his heels upward, and sent him 
under guard to Kyoto. Some of the Hojo regents, 
however, were men of character and efficiency. 
Yasutoki, for instance, who became regent in A.D. 
1225, was a man of notable executive ability, taking 
Yoritomo as his model. Besides being a soldier of 
tried capacity, he was a true friend of the farrner in 
his seasons of famine and trial, and a promoter of 
legal reforms and of the arts, which found a congenial 
home among the Japanese. 

^ A travelling palanquin. 



EMPEROR AND SHOGUN, 1 55 

But this condition of affairs could not last always. 
The very same influences which put the real 
power into the hands of the regents were at work 
to render them unfit to continue to wield it. Abdi- 
cation and effeminacy were gradually dragging down 
the Hojo family to the same level as that of the 
shoguns and emperors. In A.D. 1256 Tokiyori, then 
only thirty years old, resigned the regency in favor, 
of his son Tokimune, who was only six years. He 
himself retired to a monastery, from which he 
travelled as a visiting monk throughout the country. 
In the meantime his son was under the care of a 
tutor, Nagatoki, who, of course, was one of the Hojo 
family. Thus it had come about that a tutor now 
controlled the regent ; who was supposed to control 
the shogun ; who was supposed to be the vassal of 
the emperor ; who in turn was generally a child 
under the control of a corrupt and venal court. 
Truly government in Japan had sunk to its lowest 
point, and it was time for heroic remedies ! 

Occasionally, in the midst of this corruption and 
inefficiency, an event occurs which stirs up the na- 
tional enthusiasm and makes us feel that there is 
still left an element of heroism which will ultimately 
redeem the nation from impending ruin. Such was 
the Mongolian invasion of Japan in A.D. 1281. Ac- 
cording to accounts given by Marco Polo, who evi- 
dently narrates the exaggerated gossip of the Chinese 
court, ^ Kublai Khan had at this time conquered the 
Sung dynasty in China and reigned with unexampled 

• See Travels of Marco Polo, second edition, London, 1875, vol. 
ii., p. 240. 



156 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

magnificence. He had heard of the wealth of Japan 
and deemed it an easy matter to add this island em- 
pire to his immense dominions. His first step was 
to despatch an embassy to the Japanese court to de- 
mand the subjection of the country to his authority. 
This embassy was referred to Kamakura, whence it 
was indignantly dismissed. Finally he sent an in- 
vading force in a large number of Chinese and 
Korean vessels who took possession of Tsushima, an 
island belonging to Japan and lying midway between 
Korea and Japan. Trusting to the effects of this 
success a new embassy was sent, which was brought 
before the Hojo regent at Kamakura. The spot on 
the seashore is still pointed out where these imperi- 
ous ambassadors were put to death, and thus a de- 
nial which could not be misunderstood was given to 
the demands of the Grand Khan. A great invading 
force, which the Japanese put at a hundred thousand 
men, was immediately sent in more than three hun- 
dred vessels, who landed upon the island of Kyushu. 
This army was met and defeated ^ by Tokimune, and, 
a timely typhoon coming to their aid, the fleet of ves- 
sels was completely destroyed. Thus the only seri- 

^ In the year a.d. 1890 two pictures were brought to light which 
represent the events of this memorable battle. They are believed to 
have been painted about A.D. 1 294 by Naganori and Nagatoki, 
painters of the Tosa school. They have been in the family of one of 
the captains in the Japanese army of that day, and while the figures 
of the men and horses are not well drawn the pictures in other re- 
spects have great historical value. Alongside of the scenes repre- 
sented, legends are written in explanation. It is said that these 
valuable historical pictures are likely to come into the Household 
Department and thus be more carefully preserved than they are likely 
to be in a private house. — Japan Weekly Maily 1890, p. 581. 



EMPEROR AND SHOGUN, 1 57 

ous attempt at the invasion of Japan which has ever 
been made was completely frustrated. 

But notwithstanding this heroic episode the affairs 
of Japan remained in the same deplorable condition. 
As a rule children continued to occupy the imperial 
throne and to abdicate whenever their Hojo masters 
deemed it best. Children of the imperial house or 
of the family of Fujiwara were sent to Kamakura to 
become shoguns. And now at last the Hojo regency 
had by successive steps come down to the same level, 
and children were made regents, whose actions and 
conduct were controlled by their inferiors. 

In the midst of this state of things, which con- 
tinued till A.D. 1 3 18, Go-Daigo became emperor. 
Contrary to the ordinary usage, he was a man thirty- 
one years old, in the full maturity of his powers. 
He was by no means free from the vices to which 
his surroundings inevitably tended. He was fond 
of the gayety and pomp which the court had always 
cultivated. But he realized the depth of the degra- 
dation to which the present condition of affairs had 
dragged his country. A famine brought great suffer- 
ing upon the people, and the efforts which the em- 
peror made to assist them added to his popularity, 
and revealed to him the reverence in which the im- 
perial throne was held. His son Moriyoshi, as early 
as A.D. 1307, was implicated in plans against the 
Hojo, which they discovered, and in consequence 
compelled Go-Daigo to order his retirement into a 
monastery. Later Go-Daigo undertook to make a 
stand against the arrogance and intolerance of the 
Hojo and induced the Buddhist monks to join him 



158 THE SrORY OF JAPAN. 

in fortifying Kasagi in the province of Yamato. But 
this effort of the emperor was fruitless. Kasagi was 
attacked and destroyed and the emperor taken pris- 
oner. As a punishment for his attempt he was sent 
as an exile to the island of Oki. The Hojo Regent 
Takatoki put Go-Kogen on the throne as emperor. 
But Go-Daigo from his exile continued his exertions 
against the Hojo, and assistance came to him from 
unexpected quarters. He effected his escape from 
the island and, having raised an army, marched upon 
Kyoto. Kusunoki Masashige, who had given his aid 
to the emperor on former occasions, now exerted 
himself to good purpose. He is held in admiring 
remembrance to this day by his grateful country as 
the model of patriotic devotion, to whom his em- 
peror was dearer than his life. Another character 
who stands out prominently in this trying time was 
Nitta Yoshisada. He was a descendant of Yoshiiye, 
who, for his achievements against the Emishi, had 
received the popular title of Hachiman-taro. Nitta 
was a commander in the army of the Hojo, which 
had been sent against Kusunoki Masashige. But at 
the last moment he refused to fight against the army 
of the emperor and retired with his troops and went 
over to the side of Masashige. He returned to his 
own province of Kotsuke and raised an army to fight 
against the Hojo. With this force he marched at 
once against Kamakura through the province of 
Sagami. His route lay along the beach. But at 
Inamura-ga-saki the high ground, which is impassable 
for troops, juts out so far into the water that Nitta 
was unable to lead them past the promontory. 



EMPEROR AND SHOGUN. 1 59 

Alone he clambered up the mountain path and 
looked out upon the sea that lay in his way. He 
was bitterly disappointed that he could not bring his 
force in time to share in the attack upon the hateful 
Hojo capital. He prayed to the Sea-god to with- 
draw the sea and allow him to pass with his troops. 
Then he flung his sword into the waves in token of 
his earnestness and of the dire necessity in which he 
found himself. Thereupon the tide retreated and 
left a space of a mile and a half, along which Nitta ' 
marched upon Kamakura. 

The attack was spirited and was made from three 
directions simultaneously. It was resisted with de- 
termined valor on the part of the Hojo. The city 
was finally set on fire by Nitta, and in a few hours 
was reduced to ashes. Thus the power and the 
arrogant tyranny of the Hojo family were sealed. It 
had lasted from the death of Yoritomo, A.D. 11 99, to 
the destruction of Kamakura, A.D. 1333, in all one 
hundred and thirty-four years. It was a rough and 
tempestuous time and the Hojo have left a name in 
their country of unexampled cruelty and rapacity. 
The most unpardonable crime of which they were 
guilty was that of raising their sacrilegious hands 
against the emperor and making war against the im- 
perial standard. For this they must rest under the 
charge of treason, and no merits however great or 
commanding can ever excuse them in the eyes of 
their patriotic countrymen. 

The restoration of Go-Daigo to the imperial throne, 

^ For a description of this locality, which is justly famed in Japan 
ese annals, see Satow and Hawes' Handbook^ p. 56. 



l6o THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

under so popular an uprising, seemed to betoken a 
return to the old and simple system of Japanese gov- 
ernment. The intervention of a shogun between 
the emperor and his people, which had lasted from 
the time of Yoritomo, was contrary to the precedents 
which had prevailed from the Emperor Jimmu down 
to that time. It was the hope and wish of the best 
friends of the government at this time to go back 
to the original precedents and govern the country 
directly from Kyoto with the power and authority 
derived from the emperor. But the emperor was 
not equal to so radical a change from the methods 
which had prevailed for more than a century. He 
gave great offence by the manner in which he dis- 
tributed the forfeited fiefs among those who had 
aided his restoration. To Ashikaga Taka-uji he 
awarded by far the greatest prize, while to Kusu- 
noki and Nitta, who had in the popular estimation 
done much more for him, he allotted comparatively 
small rewards. Among the soldiers, who in the long 
civil wars had lost the ability to devote themselves 
to peaceful industries, this disappointment was most 
conspicuous. They had expected to be rewarded 
with lands and subordinate places, which would en- 
able them to live in that feudal comfort to which 
they deemed their exertions had entitled them. 

At this time a feud broke out between Ashikaga 
Taka-uji and Nitta. The former had accused Nitta 
of unfaithfulness to his emperor and Nitta was able 
to disprove the charge. He received the imperial 
commission to punish Ashikaga and marched with 
his army upon him in the province of Totomi. In 



EMPEROR AND SHOGUN, l6l 

the battles (a.d. 1336) which ensued, the forces of 
Ashikaga were completely victorious. The emperor 
and his court were obliged to flee from Kyoto and 
took up their residence in a Buddhist temple at 
Yoshino in the mountainous district south of Kyoto. 
This was the same monastery where Yoshitsune and 
Benkei had taken refuge previous to their escape 
into Mutsu. Almost every tree and every rock in 
the picturesque grounds of this romantic spot ' 
bear some evidence of the one or other of these 
memorable refugees. The southern dynasty lasted 
in all fifty-seven years, down to A.D. 1374, and 
although it was compelled to starve out a miserable 
existence in exile from the capital, it is yet looked 
upon by historians as the legitimate branch ; while 
the northern dynasty, which enjoyed the luxury of a 
palace and of the capital, is condemned as illegitimate. 
This period of exile witnessed many notable events 
in the bloody history of the country. Ashikaga 
Taka-uji was of course the ruling spirit while he lived. 
He proclaimed that Go-Daigo had forfeited the 
throne and put Komyo Tenno, a brother of Kogen 
Tenno upon it in his stead. The insignia of the im- 
perial power were in the possession of Go-Daigo, but 
Komyo, being supported by the battalions of Ashi- 
kaga, cared little for these empty baubles. The 
bloody sequence of affairs brought with it the death of 
the heroic Kusunoki Masashige vie with Nitta and 
other patriots had undertaken to support Go-Daigo. 
It is said that contrary to his military judgment he 
attacked the forces of Ashikaga, which were vastly 

' See Chamberlain's Handbook^ i8gi, p. 337, 



l62 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

superior in number. The battle took place A.D. 1336 
on the Minato-gawa, near the present site of Hyogo 
The Ashikaga forces had cut off Kusunoki with a 
small band of devoted followers from the main army. 
Seeing that his situation was hopeless and that his 
brave troops must be destroyed, with one hundred 
and fifty men — all that were left of his little army — 
he retired to a farmer's house near by and there 
they all committed hara-kiri} Kusunoki Masashige, 
when about to commit suicide, said to his son Ma- 
satsura : " For the sake of keeping yourself out of 
danger's way or of reaping some temporal advan- 
tage, on no account are you to submit to Taka-uji. 
By so doing you would bring reproach on our name. 
While there is a man left who belongs to us let our 
flag be hoisted over the battlements of Mount Konzo, 
as a sign that we are still ready to fight in the em- 
peror's cause." 

A little later than this, in A.D. 1338, the great 
companion and friend of Kusunoki, Nitta Yoshi- 
sada, came to his end. He had undertaken to 
promote the cause of the Emperor Go-Daigo in the 
northwestern provinces by co-operating with Fuji- 
wara-no-Yoritomo. Nitta with about fifty followers 
was unexpectedly attacked by Ashikaga Tadatsune, 
with three thousand men near Fukui in the province 
of Echizen. There was no way of escape with his 

^ Quite an animated and interesting controversy took place a few- 
years ago with reference to this suicide of Kusunoki. Popular 
opinion strongly justifies the act and rewards with its highest approval 
the memory of the patriot. But Mr. Fukuzawa, one of the most 
radical of the public men of to-day and an active and trenchant 
writer, condemned the act as indefensible and cowardly. 



EMPEROR AND SHOGUN, 1 63 

little troop. In this condition he was urged to 
secure his personal safety. But he refused to sur- 
vive his comrades. Then he rode with his brave 
company upon the enemy until his horse was dis- 
abled and he himself was pierced in the eye with an 
arrow. He drew out the arrow with his own hand, 
and then, in order that his body might not be 
identified, with his sword cut off his own head, at 
least so it is said ! Each member of his troop 
followed this grewsome example, and it was only 
after examining the bodies of these headless corpses 
and the finding upon one a commission from the 
Emperor Go-Daigo, that the remains of the heroic 
NFitta were recognized. The head was sent to 
Kyoto and there exposed by the Ashikaga com- 
tTiander, and the body was buried near the place 
where the tragic death occurred.' 

The Ashikaga family had now the uninterrupted 
!ontrol of affairs. They resided at Kyoto and in- 
herited in succession the office of shogun. Taka-uji 
the founder of the Ashikaga shogunate, and who had 
held the office from A.D. 1334, died in A.D. 1358, 
when about fifty-three years old. He was succeeded 
by his son Yoshinori who was shogun from A.D. 1359 
to A.D. 1367. Having retired he was succeeded by 
his grandson Yoshimitsu who in turn retired in favor 
of his son Yoshimotsu. By this time the precedents 
of abdication and effeminacy began to tell upon the 

' Mr. Griffis says that when he resided in Fukui in A.D. 1871 — 
more than five hundred years after the event, — he saw the grave of the 
heroic Nitta almost daily strewed with flowers. — -The Mikado's Em- 
pire ^ 1876, p. I go. 



164 THE SrORY OF JAPAN. 

Ashikaga successors, and like all the preceding ruling 
families it gradually sank into the usual insignifi- 
cance. Some of the Ashikaga shoguns, however, 
were men of uncommon ability and their services to 
their country deserve to be gratefully remembered. 
A number of them were men of culture and evinced 
their love of elegance and refinement by the palaces 
which they built in Kyoto. Ashikaga Yoshimitsu 
was shogun from A.D. 1368 to 1393, and at the latter 
date retired in favor of his young son Yoshimotsu, 
but lived in official retirement in Kyoto till A.D. 
1409. He built the palace now known as the Bud- 
dhist monastery Kinkakuji.^ Its name is derived 
from kinkaku (golden pavilion) which Yoshimitsu 
erected. The whole palace was bequeathed by him 
to the Zen sect of Buddhists and is still one of the 
sights best worth seeing in Kyoto. 

Yoshimitsu has been visited by much obloquy be- 
cause he accepted from the Chinese government the 
title of King of Japan, and pledged himself to the 
payment of one thousand ounces of gold as a yearly 
tribute. It is said in explanation of this tribute that 
it was to compensate for damages done by Japanese 
pirates to Chinese shipping. But it was probably 
negotiated for the purpose of securing an ambitious 
title on the one hand and on the other making a 
troublesome neighbor a tributary kingdom. 

Another building which takes its origin from 
the Ashikaga is the To-ji-in. It was founded by 
Ashikaga Taka-uji and contains carved and lacquered 
wooden figures of the Ashikaga shoguns which 

* Satow and Hawes* Handbook, p. 356. 



EMPEROR AND SHOGUN. 1 65 

are believed in most cases to be contemporary 
portraits/ 

Another of the notable Ashikaga shoguns was 
Yoshimasa, who held the office from A.D. 1443-1473. 
He retired at the latter date, and lived as retired 
shogun until A.D. 1490. In this interval of seclusion 
he cultivated the arts, and posed as the patron of 
literature and painting. That curious custom called 
cka-no-yu, or tea ceremonies,'' is usually adjudged to 
him as its originator, but it is most probable that he 
only adopted and refined it until it became the fash- 
ionable craze which has come down to modern times. 
These ceremonies and his other modes of amuse- 
ment were conducted in a palace which he had built 
called gin-kakit (silver pavilion). Yoshimasa left 
this palace to the monks of Sho-koku-ji, with di- 
rections that it should be converted into a monas- 
tery, and in that capacity it still serves at the present 
time. 

The period of the two imperial dynasties lasted 
until A.D. 1392, when a proposition was made by the 
Shogun Yoshimitsu to the then reigning emperor 
of the south, that the rivalry should be healed. It 
was agreed that Go-Kameyama of the southern dy- 

^ It is an evidence of the feeling which still exists towards the 
Ashikaga shoguns that in 1863 these figures were taken from the 
T5-ji-in and beheaded and the heads pilloried in the dry bed of 
the Kamogawa, at the spot where it is customary to expose the heads 
of the worst criminals. Several of the men M^ho were guilty of this 
outrage were captured and were put into the hands of various 
daimyds by whom they were kept as prisoners. — Satow and Hawes' 
Handbook., p. 357. 

^ See the full account of tea ceremonies in Chamberlain's Things 
Japanese^ 1892, p. 404. 



i66 



THE STORY OF JAPAN, 



nasty should come to Kyoto and surrender the in« 
signia to Go-Komatsu, the ruling emperor of the 
northern dynasty. This was duly accomplished, 
and Go-Kameyama, having handed over the insignia 
to Go-Komatsu, took the position of retired emperor. 
Thus the long rivalry between the northern and 
southern dynasties was ended, and Go-Komatsu 
stands as the ninety-ninth in the official list of em- 
perors. In that list, however, none of the other 
emperors ^ of the northern dynasty appear, they 
being regarded as pretenders, and in no case entitled 
to the dignity of divine rulers of Japan. 

This settlement of dynastic difficulties and the 
unrestricted ascendancy of the Ashikaga shoguns 
gave the country a little interval of peace. The 
condition of the peasantry at this time was most 
deplorable. The continual wars between neighbor- 
ing lords and with the shoguns had kept in the field 
armies of military men, who were forced to subsist 
on contributions exacted from the tillers of the soil. 
The farmers everywhere were kept in a state of un- 
certainty, and had little encouragement to cultivate 

1 The official list of emperors will be found in Appendix I. The 
names of the northern which are not included in this list are as 
follows : 





Date 


OF Access 


,ION. 






From Jimmu. 


A.D. 


Komio 


1996 
2009 
2012 
2032 
2043 


1336 
1349 
1352 
1372 


Shuko 


Go-K5gen 


Go-Enyii 


r^o-TCnmntsn ..... 


1383 











EMPEROR AND SHOGUN, 1 6/ 

crops which were almost sure to fall into the hands 
of others. 

On the coasts of Kyushu and other islands facing 
towards the continent piracy also sprang up and 
flourished apace. It was indeed an era of piracy 
all over the world. The Portuguese, Spanish, and 
Dutch traders of this period were almost always 
ready to turn an honest penny by seizing an unfor- 
tunate vessel under the pretence that it was a pirate. 
The whole coast of China, according to the accounts 
of Pinto, swarmed with both European and Asiatic 
craft, which were either traders or pirates, according 
to circumstances. Under this state of things, and 
with the pressure of lawlessness and want behind 
them, it was not surprising that the inhabitants of 
the western coasts of Japan should turn to a pirati- 
cal life. 

Knowing the Japanese only since centuries of en- 
forced isolation had made them unaccustomed to 
creep beyond their own shores, we can scarcely con- 
ceive of their hardihood and venturesomeness during 
and subsequent to this active period. Mr. Satow * 
has gathered a most interesting series of facts per- 
taining to the intercourse between Japan and Siam, 
beginning at a period as early as that now under re- 
view. Not only did this intercourse consist in send- 
ing vessels laden with chattels for traffic, but a colony 
of Japanese and a contingent of Japanese troops 
formed part of the assistance which Japan furnished 
to her southern neighbor. 

While these signs of activity were apparent on the 

^ See Asiatic Society Transactions^ vol. xiii., p. 139. 



1 68 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

coast, the provinces in the interior were alive with 
political unrest. Particularly the principal daimyos, 
who had never since the days of Yoritomo felt a 
master's power over them, took the present occasion 
to extend their dominions over their neighbors. 
For centuries the conflicts among them were almost 
unending. It is needless to undertake to disentangle 
the story of their wars. These daimyos were a far 
more distinct and pressing reality than the harmless 
emperor, or- even than the far-removed shogun. 
While their ceaseless civil wars rendered the condi- 
ti6n of the country so uncertain and so unsettled, 
yet the authority of the local rulers tended to pre- 
serve peace and dispense a rude kind of justice 
among their own subjects. Thus while in many 
parts of Japan poverty and desolation had eaten up 
everything, and lawlessness and robbery had put an 
end to industry, yet there were some favored parts 
of the islands where the strong hand of the daimyos 
preserved for their people the opportunities of life, 
and kept alive the chances of industry.^ 

1 It is said that in this disastrous time the poverty of the country- 
was so great that when, in a.d. 1500, Go-Tsuchimikado died at his 
palace in Kyoto, the corpse was kept for forty days because the means 
for the usual funeral expenses could not be had. M. von Brandt as 
quoted in Rein's Japan, p. 261. 



\ 




CHAPTER VIII. 

FROM THE ASHIKAGA SHOGUNS TO THE DEATH 
OF NOBUNAGA. 

In almost the worst period of the Ashikaga anar- 
chy, A.D. 1542, the Portuguese made their first ap- 
pearance in Japan. Galvano, who had been governor 
of the Moluccas, gives an account of this first visit, 
when three fugitives from a Portuguese vessel in a 
Chinese junk were driven upon the islands of south- 
ern Japan. Concerning the doings ^ of these fugi- 
tives we have no account in any foreign narratives. 

' Mr. W. A. Woolley, in a paper read before the Asiatic Society of 
Japan, gives an account derived from Japanese sources as follovi^s : 
' ' Amongst those who landed on this occasion was one of the Literati 
of China, who acted as interpreter between the foreigners and the 
chief of the island Hy6bu-no-j6 Tokitada. [Since both the Chinese 
and Japanese used the same ideographic characters, they could under- 
stand each other's writing but not speech.] In reply to questions the 
interpreter is represented as having described his friends the foreign- 
ers as being ignorant of etiquette ai;id characters, of the use of wine 
cups and chop sticks, and as being, in fact, little better than the 
beasts of the field. The chief of the foreigners taught Tokitada the 
use of firearms, and upon leaving presented him with three guns 
and ammunition, which were forwarded to Shimazu Yoshihisa, and 
through him to the shogun." — Asiatic Society Transactions^ vol, ix., 
p. 128. 



1>JQ THE STORY OF JAP AM, 

But P'ernam Mendez Pinto,' in his travels, etc., gives 
a detailed narrative of the visit which he and his 
companions made a few years later in a ship with a 
Chinese captain and merchandise. The exact year 
cannot be ascertained from Pinto's narrative, but 
Hildreth ' assumes that it could not have been ear- 
lier than A.D. 1545. Pinto landed on Tane-ga-shima, 
an island south of the extreme southern point of the 
island of Kyushu. They were received with great 
cordiality by the prince, who evinced the utmost 
curiosity concerning the Portuguese who were on 
this ship. Pinto naively confesses that " we ren- 
dered him answers as might rather fit his humor 
than agree w^ith the truth, . . . that so we might 
not derogate from the great opinion he had con- 
ceived of our country." ^ 

As a return for some of the kindnesses which the 
prince showed them, the Portuguese gave him a 
harquebuse, and explained to him the method of 
making powder. The present seems to have been 
most acceptable, and Pinto declares the armorers 
commenced at once to make imitations of it, "so 
that before their departure (which was five months 
and a half after) there were six hundred of them 
made in the country." And a few years later he 
was assured that there were above thirty thousand 
in the city of Fucheo," the capital of Bungo, and 

' See Adventures of Mendez Pinto, done into English by Henry 
Cogan, London, 1891, pp. 259 etc. 

2 Hildreth's Japan, etc., 1855, p. 27, note. 

3 Adventures of Mendez Pinto, p. 281. 

^ This is the name by which Pinto calls this city (see Adventures of 
Mendez Pinto, London, 1891, p. 265); the real name, however, at 
this time was Fumai, and is now Oita. 



THE ASH IK AG A SHOGUNS AND NOBUNAGA, 171 

above three hundred thousand in the whole province. 
And so they have increased from this one harquebusc 
which they gave to the prince of Tane-ga-shima, 
until every hamlet and city in the empire in a short 
time were supplied with them.* 

A short time after their reception at Tane-ga- 
shima the Prince of Bungo, who was a relative of 
the Prince of Tane-ga-shima, sent for one of the 
Portuguese, and Pinto, by his own consent, was 
selected as being of a '' more lively humor." He 
was received with great consideration, and proved 
himself of vast service in curing the prince of gout, 
with which he was affected. His success in this cure 
gave him immense repute, and he was initiated into 
all the gayeties and sports of the prince's court. In 
particular he amused and interested them all by 
firing the matchlock which he had brought with 
him. A son of the prince of about sixteen or seven- 
teen years of age was infatuated with this sport, and 
one day, unknown to Pinto, he undertook to load 
and fire the matchlock, as he had seen the foreigner 
do. An explosion occurred, by which the young 
prince was much injured, and owing to this Pinto 
came near being put to death for having wrought 
this disaster. But the young prince had more sense 
than the attendants, and at his request Pinto was 
given a chance to bind up the wounds and take care 

' The author himself saw in Japan in 1874 the native hunters using 
an old-fashioned matchlock, in which the powder was fired by a slow 
burning match, which was brought down to the powder by a trigger. 
This kind of firearm, which was in use in Europe in the fifteenth 
century, was taken to Japan by the Portuguese, and continued to be 
used there until the re-organization of the army introduced the mod- 
ern form of gun. 



\y2 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

of him. The result was that the young prince 
quickly recovered, and the fame of this cure was 
spread everywhere. " So that," says Pinto, ** after 
this sort I received in recompense of this my cure 
above fifteen hundred ducats that I carried with me 
from this place." 

Pinto made a second visit to Japan in the interests 
of trade in 1547, which was attended by a circum- 
stance which had far-reaching results. In critical 
circumstances they were called upon to take off two 
fugitives who appealed to them from the shore. A 
company of men on horseback demanded the return 
of the fugitives, but without answer they pulled off 
to the ship and took them aboard. The principal of 
these two fugitives ^ was Anjiro, whom the Jesuits 
usually name Anger, and his companion was his ser- 
vant. They were taken in the Portuguese vessel to 
Malacca, where Pinto met Father Francis Xavier, 
who had just arrived upon his mission to the East. 
Xavier became intensely interested in these Japanese 
fugitives, and took them to Goa, then the principal 
seat of Jesuit learning and the seat of an arch- 
bishopric in the East Indies. Here both the Jap- 
anese became converts and were baptized, Anjiro 
receiving the name of Paulo de Santa Fe ^ (Paul of 
the Holy Faith), and his companion the name of 
John. They learned to speak and write the Portu- 
guese language, and were instructed in the elements 

* In the accounts given by the biographers of Xavier, it is said that 
there were two companions of Anjiro who in the subsequent baptism 
received the names of John and Anthony. 

^ This was the name of the seminary in Goa where Anjiro had 
been educated. 



( 



THE ASHIKAGA SHOGUNS AND NOBUNAGA, 173 

of the Christian reHgion. With these efficient helps 
Xavier was ready to enter Japan and commence the 
evangeHzation on which his heart had long been set. 
At last arrangements were made with a Chinese 
vessel, which according to Pinto's account was a 
piratical craft, to convey Xavier and his companions 
to Japan. They arrived at Kagoshima, the capital 
of the province of Satsuma, August 15, A.D. 1549. 
Besides Xavier and his Japanese companions there 
were Cosme de Torres, a priest, and Jean Ferdinand, 
a brother of the Society of Jesus. They were cor- 
dially received by the Prince of Satsuma, and after 
a little, permission was given them to preach the 
Christian religion in the city of Kagoshima. The 
family and relatives of Anjiro, who lived in Kago- 
shima, were converted and became the first fruits of 
the mission. In the letters which Xavier wrote 
home about this time we have his early impressions 
concerning the Japanese. The princess took great 
interest in the subjects discussed by Anjiro, and was 
especially struck with a picture of the Madonna and 
child which he showed her. She asked to have the 
heads of the Christian faith put in writing in order 
that she might study them. For this reason a creed 
and a catechism were prepared and translated into 
the Japanese language, for the use of the princess 
and other enquirers. In one of his early letters he 
says : '' I really think that among barbarous nations 
there can be none that has more natural goodness 
than Japan." ' In the same letter he says : " They 

^ See Coleridge's Life and Letters of St. Fraitcis Xavier ^ London, 
1872, p. 237. 



174 'THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

are wonderfully inclined to see all that is good and 
honest and have an eagerness to learn." Xavier, in 
letter 79, narrates his meeting with the Buddhist 
priest whom he calls Ningh-Sit, which name he says 
means Heart of Truth. This priest was eighty 
years old, and in the conversation expressed great 
surprise that Xavier should have come all the way 
from Portugal to preach to the Japanese. 

The biographers of Xavier have given us the full- 
est details of his life and works. That he was a 
man of the most fervent piety as well as the most 
conspicuous ability, is apparent from the energy and 
success with which he conducted his short but briU 
liant mission. Both in their accounts of him, as well 
as in the papal bull announcing his canonization, the 
claim is distinctly set forth of his possession of 
miraculous power. He is represented as having 
raised a Japanese girl from the dead ; as possessing 
the gift of tongues, that is, as being able to speak in 
fluent Japanese, although he had not learned the 
language ; as having given an answer which when 
heard was a satisfactory reply to the most various 
and different questions,' such as, " the immortality of 
the soul, the motions of the heavens, the eclipses of 
the sun and moon, the colors of the rainbow, sin 
and grace, heaven and hell." 

Yet it must be stated that Xavier himself does 
not claim these miraculous powers. Indeed among 
the letters published by Father Horace Tursellini 
is one in which he thus speaks of himself : *' God 
grant that as soon as possible we may learn the 

' Bouhour's Life of Xavier, p. 274. 



ST. FRANCIS XAVIER. 



The portrait here given of St. Francis Xavier is from a photograph 
furnished by tlie College of St. Francis Xavier of New York and 
is vouched for as his traditional likenes';- 



176 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

language of Japan in order to make known the 
divine mysteries ; then we shall zealously prosecute 
our Christian work. For they speak and discourse 
much about us, but we are silent, ignorant of the 
language of the country. At present we are become 
a child again to learn the elements of the language." 
The desire for trade with the Portuguese seems 
to have been a principal reason for the ready re- 
ception of the missionaries. And when the Portu- 
guese merchant ships resorted to Hirado, an island 
off the west coast of Kyushu, instead of the less 
accessible Kagoshima, the Prince of Kagoshima 
turned against the missionaries and forbade them 
from preaching and proselyting. From Kagoshima 
Xavier went to Hirado, where he was received with 
a salvo of artillery from a Portuguese vessel then at 
anchor there. Here he made a short stay, preach- 
ing the gospel as usual and with the approval of the 
prince establishing a church. Leaving Kosme de 
Torres at Hirado and taking with him Fernandez 
and the two Japanese assistants he touched at 
Hakata, famous as the place where the Mongol in- 
vaders were repulsed. Then he crossed over to the 
Main island and travelling by land along the 
Sanyodo he entered Yamaguchi in the province of 
Nagato. His humble and forlorn appearance did 
not produce a favorable impression on the people of 
this city and he was driven out with obloquy. He 
set out for Kyoto with a party of Japanese mer- 
chants, and as it was winter and Xavier had to carry 
on his back a box containing the vestments and 
vessels for the celebration of mass, the journey 



THE ASHIKAGA SHOGUNS AND NOBUNAGA. 1 77 

was trying and difficult. He arrived at Kyoto A.D. 
1550 in the midst of great political troubles. A fire 
had destroyed a great part of what had been once a 
beautiful and luxurious city. Many of the principal 
citizens had abandoned it and taken up their resi- 
dence with local princes in the provinces. Xavier 
could obtain a hearing neither from the emperor 
nor from the Ashikaga shoguns, who maintained a 
representative in the capital at this time. He 
preached in the street as he could obtain oppor- 
tunity. But the atmosphere was everywhere un- 
favorable, and he resolved to abandon the field for 
the present. Accordingly he went back to Bungo, 
whence he sailed for China November 20, A.D. 1 551, 
with the purpose of establishing a mission. He had 
spent two years and three months in Japan and 
left an impression which has never been effaced. 
He died on his way, at the little island of Sancian, 
December 2, A.D. 1552, aged forty-six. His body 
was carried to Malacca and afterward to Goa, where 
it was buried in the archiepiscopal cathedral.' 

The departure and death of Xavier did not inter- 
rupt the work of the mission in Japan. Kosme de 
Torres was left in charge and additional helpers, 

' In the Life of St. Francis Xavier by Bartholi and Maffei the 

following circumstance is given : "It seems that a rat had invaded 

the sanctuary and gnawed the ornamfents of the altar. The sacristan 

appealed to the saint thus : ' Father Francis ! people say that you 

passed from this life in the vicinity of China ; that you were a saint, 

that your body still remains entire and incorrupt at Goa. Now here 

am I your sacristan ; and I ask is it consistent with your honor that a 

rat should have the audacity to gnaw the ornaments of your altar ? I 

demand his death at your hand.' On opening the door of the sane 

tuary the next morning the sacristan found the culprit quite dead." 
12 



178 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

both priests and lay brothers, were sent to prosecute 
what had been so conspicuously begun. The politi- 
cal disturbances in Yamaguchi for a time interfered 
with the labors of the missionaries there. Bungo 
was the principal province where their encourage- 
ment had made their success most conspicuous. 
The prince had not indeed been baptized but he 
had permitted the fathers to preach and he had 
allowed converts to adopt the new religion, so that 
the work had assumed a promising appearance. 
The Prince of Omura became a convert and by his 
zeal in the destruction of idols and other extreme 
measures aroused the hostility of the Buddhist 
priesthood. In Kyoto the progress of the work en- 
countered many vicissitudes. The political troubles 
arising out of the contests between Mori of Chosho 
and the rival house interfered with the propagation 
of Christianity both in Yamaguchi and Kyoto. 
Mori himself, the most powerful prince of his time 
and who once held the control in ten provinces, was 
hostile to the Christians. By his influence the work 
in Kyoto was temporarily abandoned and the fathers 
resorted to Sakai, a seaport town not far from 
Osaka, where a branch mission was established. 

It was in A.D. 1573 that Nagasaki became dis- 
tinctively a Christian city. At that time the Portu- 
guese were seeking various ports in which they 
could conduct a profitable trade, and they found 
that Nagasaki possessed a harbor in which their 
largest ships could ride at anchor. The merchants 
and Portuguese fathers therefore proposed to the 
Prince of Omura, in whose territory the port of 



THE ASHIKAGA SHOGUNS AND NOBUNAGA. 1 79 

Nagasaki was situated, to grant to them the town 
with jurisdiction over it. The prince at first refused, 
but finally by the intervention of the Prince of 
Arima the arrangement was madeJ The transfer- 
ence to Nagasaki of the foreign trade at this early 
day m.ade it a very prosperous place. The Prince 
of Omura had the town laid out in appropriate 
streets, and Christian churches were built often on 
the sites of Buddhist temples which were torn down 
to give place for them. It is said that in A.D. 1567 
^' there was hardly a person who was not a Christian." 

We shall have occasion often in the subsequent 
narrative to refer to the progress of Christianity in 
the empire. In the meantime we must trace the 
career of Nobunaga, who exerted a powerful effect 
on the affairs of his country and particularly upon 
the condition of both Buddhism and Christianity. 
He must be regarded always as one of the great men 
of Japan who at an opportune moment intervened 
to rescue its affairs from anarchy. He prepared the 
way for Hideyoshi and he, in turn, made it possible 
for leyasu to establish a peace which lasted without 
serious interruption for two hundred and fifty years. 

Ota Nobunaga was descended from the Taira fam- 
ily through Ota Chikazane a great-grandson of Taira 
Kiyomori. The father of Chikazane had perished 
in the wars between the Taira and Minamoto 
families, and his mother had married as her second 
husband the chief man in the village of Tsuda in the 
province of Omi. The step-child was adopted by 

" See Woolley, " Historical Notes on Nagasaki, Asiatic Society 
Transactions ^ vol. ix., p. 129. 



l8o THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

a Shinto priest of the village of Ota in the -province 
of Echizen, and received the name of Ota Chikazane. 
When he grew up, he became a Shinto priest and 
married and became the father of a line of priests. 
One of this succession was Ota Nobuhide, who seems 
to have reverted from the priestly character back to 
the warlike habits of his ancestors. In the general 
scramble for land, which characterized that period, 
Nobuhide acquired by force of arms considerable 
possessions in the province of Owari, which at his 
death in A.D. 1549 he left to his son Ota Nobunaga. 
This son grew up to be a man of large stature, but 
slender and delicate in frame. He was brave beyond 
the usual reckless bravery of his countrymen. He was 
by character and training fitted for command, and 
in the multifarious career of his busy life, in expedi- 
tions, battles, and sieges, he showed himself the con- 
summate general. Like many other men of genius 
he was not equally as skilful in civil as military affairs. 
He was ambitious to reduce the disorders of his 
country, and he was able to see in a great measure 
the success of his schemes. But he failed in leaving 
when he died any security for the preservation and 
continuance of that peace and unity which he had 
conquered. 

At the time Nobunaga became prominent, the 
Emperor Go-Nara had died and Ogimachi in A.D. 
1560 had just succeeded to the throne as the one 
hundred and fifth emperor. Ashikaga Yoshifusa had 
become shogun in A.D. 1 547 as a boy eleven years 
old, and was at this time a young man, who as usual 
devoted himself to pleasure while the affairs of gov- 
ernment were conducted by others. Both emperor 



THE ASHIKAGA SHOGUNS AND NOBUNAGA, l8l 

and shogun were almost powerless in the empire, the 
real power being held by the local princes. In many 
cases they had largely increased their holdings by 
conquest, and were almost entirely independent of 
the central authority. For more than a century this 
independence had been growing, and at the time of 
Nobunaga there was little pretence of deferring to 
the shogun in any matter growing out of the rela- 
tions of one prince to the other, and none at all in 
reference to the internal government of the terri- 
tories within their jurisdiction. The principal local 
rulers at this time were the following: Imagaya 
Yoshimoto controlled the three provinces of Suruga, 
Totomi, and Mikawa ; Hojo Ujiyasu from the town 
of Odowara ruled the Kwanto, including the prov- 
inces of Sagami, Musashi, Awa, Kazusa, Shimosa, 
Hitachi, Kotsuke, and Shimotsuke ; TakedaShingen 
ruled the province of Kai and the greater part of 
the mountainous province of Shinano ; Uesugi 
Kenshin held under his control the northwestern 
provinces of Echizen, Echigo, Etchu, and Noto ; 
Mori Motonari after a severe contest had ob- 
tained control of almost all the sixteen prov- 
inces which composed the Chugoku or central 
country ; the island of Kyushu had been the 
scene of frequent civil wars and was now divided be- 
tween the houses of Shimazu of Satsuma, Otomo 
of Bungo, and Ryozoji of Hizen ; and finally the 
island of Shikoku was under the control of Choso- 
kabe Motochika.^ Besides these principal rulers, 

^ For these facts concerning Nobunaga and Hideyoshi, and the 
condition of the country during their times, the author is' largely 
indebted to the Life of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, by Walter Dening, 
Tokio, 1890. 



1 82 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

there were many smaller holders who occupied fiefs 
subordinate to the great lords, and paid for their 
protection and their suzerainty in tribute and mili- 
tary service. In the letters of the Jesuit missionaries 
of this period the great lords are denominated kings, 
but neither according to the theory of the Japanese 
government, nor the actual condition of these rulers 
can the name be considered appropriate. The term 
daimyo ^ came into its full and modern use only 
when leyasu reorganized and consolidated the 
feudal system of the empire. But even at the period 
of Nobunaga the name was employed to indicate 
the owners of land. We prefer to continue down to 
the time of the Tokugawa shoguns the use of the 
terms prince and principality for the semi-indepen- 
dent rulers and their territories. 

The holdings which Ota Nobunaga inherited from 
his father consisted only of four small properties in 
the province of Owari. Acting according to the 
fashion of the times he gradually extended his 
authority, until by A.D. 1559 ^^ ^^^^ ^^"^ supreme in 
Owari with his chief castle at Kiyosu near to the city 
of Nagoya. His leading retainers and generals were 
Shibata Genroku and Sakuma Yemon, to whom 
must be added Hideyoshi,^ who gradually and 

^ The word daimyo means great name, and was used in reference 
to the ownership of land ; shomyo means small name, and was at first 
employed to indicate the small land-owner. But the word never 
obtained currency, the small land-owner always preferring to call 
himself a daimyd. See Chamberlain's Things Japanese, p. 84. 

^ The element of comedy shows itself from the beginning in 
Hideyoshi's character wheii.he adopted the calabash, in which he had 
carried water, as his synjbol of victory. He added a new one for 



THE ASHIKAGA SHOGUNS AND NOBUNAGA. 1 83 

rapidly rose from obscurity to be the main reliance 
of his prince. Nobunaga was a skilful general, and 
whenever an interval occurred in his expeditions 
against his hostile neighbors he employed the time 
in carefully drilling his troops, and preparing them 
for their next movements. He found in Hideyoshi 
an incomparable strategist, whose plans, artifices, 
and intrigues were original and effective, and were 
worth more to his master than thousands of troops. 

It was not difficult in those days to find excuses 
to invade neighboring domains, and hence we find 
Nobunaga, as soon as he had made himself master 
of Owari, on one pretext or another making himself 
also master of the provinces of Mino, Omi, and 
Ise. Before this was accomplished, however, we 
see plain indications both on the part of Nobunaga 
and his retainers that the ultimate aim in view was 
the subjugation, of the whole country, and the estab- 
lishment of a government like that of Yoritomo. 

At this time (a.d. 1567) the affairs of the Ashi- 
kaga shoguns, who ruled in the name of the emperor, 
were in a state of great confusion. Yoshiteru, the 
shogun, had been assassinated by one of his retainers, 
Miyoshi Yoshitsugu. The younger brother of 
Yoshiteru was Yoshiaki, who desired to succeed, but 
this did not comport with the designs of the assassins. 
Accordingly after making several unsuccessful appli- 
cations for military aid he finally applied to Nobu- 
naga. This was exactly the kind of alliance that 

each victory, and at last adopted a bunch of calabashes for his coat- 
of-arms. Afterwards he had this constructed of gold, which was 
carried as the emblem of his triumphant career. 



1 84 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

Nobunaga wanted to justify his schemes of national 
conquest. With his own candidate in the ofifice of 
shogun, he could proceed without impediment to 
reduce all the princes of the empire to his supreme 
authority. He therefore undertook to see Yoshiaki 
established as shogun, and for this purpose marched 
a large army into Kyoto. Yoshiaki was installed as 
shogun in A.D. 1568, and at his suggestion the 
emperor conferred on Nobunaga the title of Fuku- 
shogun ' or vice-shogun. This was Nobunaga's first 
dealings with the imperial capital, and the presence 
of his large army created a panic among the inactive 
and peaceful citizens. 

He appointed Hideyoshi as commander-in-chief 
of the army at the capital, who with a sagacity and 
energy that belonged to his character set himself to 
inspire confidence and to overcome the prejudice 
which everywhere prevailed against the new order 
of things. Kyoto had suffered so much from fires 
and warlike attacks, and still more by poverty and 
neglect, that it was now in a lamentable condition. 
To have somebody, therefore, with the power and 
spirit to accomplish his ends, undertake to repair 
some of the wastes, and put in order what had long 
run to ruin, was an unexpected and agreeable sur- 
prise. The palaces of the emperor and the shogun 
were repaired and made suitable as habitations for 
the heads of the nation. Streets and bridges, 
temples and grounds were everywhere put in order. 
Kyoto for the first time in many centuries had the 
benefit of a good and strong government. 

^ See Dening's Life of Hideyoshi^ p. 207, 



THE A SHI K AG A SHOGUNS AND NOB UN AG A. 1 85 

It was the custom to celebrate the establishment 
of a new year-period with popular rejoicings. The 
period called Genki was begun in December A.D. 
1 570 by the Emperor Ogimachi. Nobunaga brought 
to Kyoto on this occasion a very large army in 
order to impress on the minds of the nation his 
overwhelming military power. He intended, more- 
over, to march his forces, as soon as this celebration 
was over, against Prince Asakura Yoshikage of the 
province of Echizen, who had not yet submitted 
himself to Nobunaga's authority, and who had not 
given in his adhesion to the new shogun. Taking 
with him Hideyoshi and all the troops that could be 
spared from Kyoto, Nobunaga marched north into 
the domains of Yoshikage. He was aided in his 
resistance by Asai Nagamasa, the governor of the 
castle of Itami in the province of Omi. An attempt 
had been made by Nobunaga to conciliate Naga- 
masa by giving him his sister in marriage. But 
Nagamasa was still cool, and now at this critical 
time he turned to help Nobunaga's enemy. The 
unexpected combination came very near causing 
Nobunaga a disastrous defeat. At an important 
battle which was fought in this short campaign, we 
see together the three most noted men of their 
time, Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and leyasu. The last 
of the three was only a few years younger than 
Hideyoshi, and had already shown indications of the 
clear and steady character of which he afterward gave 
such indubitable proof. The result was the defeat 
of Nobunaga's enemies and his victorious return to 
the castle of Gifu in the province of Mino. 



1 86 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

But his way was not yet quite free from obstacles. 
Asakura Yoshikage and Asai Nagamasa although 
defeated were not crushed, and made various efforts 
to regain the advantage, over Nobunaga. The most 
noted of these was when Nobunaga was absent from 
Kyoto with troops quelling a disturbance in Osaka, 
Asakura and Asai took advantage of the opportu- 
nity and marched a strong force upon the city. 
They had proceeded as far as Hiei-zan on the borders 
of Lake Biwa. This mountain was then occupied by 
an immense Buddhist monastery called Enriaku-ji 
from the year-period when it was established. It 
was said, that at this time there were as many as 
three thousand buildings belonging to the monas- 
tery. The monks of this establishment were ex- 
ceedingly independent, and were so numerous and 
powerful that they were able to exact whatever con- 
cessions they desired from the government at Kyoto, 
from which they were only a few miles distant. 
They disliked Nobunaga and his powerful govern- 
ment with which they dared not take their usual 
liberties. Accordingly they made common cause 
with Asakura and Asai and furnished them with 
shelter and supplies on their march to Kyoto. But 
Nobunaga met them before they reached Kyoto, 
and so hemmed them in that they were glad to sue 
for peace and get back to their own provinces as well 
as they could. But on the ill-fated monastery No- 
bunaga in A.D. 1 571 visited a terrible revenge. He 
burned their buildings, and what monks survived the 
slaughter he drove into banishment. The monastery 
was partially restored subsequently by leyasu, but it 



THE ASH IK AG A SHOGUNS AND NOBUNAGA. 18/ 

was restricted to one hundred and twenty-five build- 
ings and never afterwards was a political power in 
the country. 

During these years of Nobunaga's supremacy, the 
Jesuit fathers had been pushing forward their work 
of proselyting and had met with marvellous success. 
The action of the Buddhist priests in siding with his 
enemies and the consequent aversion with which he 
regarded them, led Nobunaga to favor the establish- 
ment of Christian churches. In the letters of the 
fathers at this period frequent references are made 
to Nobunaga and of his favorable attitude toward 
Christianity and their hope that he would finally be- 
come a convert. But it is plain that the fathers did 
not comprehend fully the cause for the enmity of 
Nobunaga to the Buddhist monks, and his political 
reasons for showing favor to the Christian fathers. 
He remained as long as he lived friendly to the 
Christian church, but made no progress towards an 
avowal of his faith. Under his patronage a church 
was built in Kyoto, and another at Azuchi on Lake 
Biwa, where he built for himself a beautiful castle 
and residence. By this patronage and the zeal of 
the fathers the Christian church rose to its greatest 
prosperity ^ during the closing years of Nobunaga's 
life. In the year A.D. 1582 a mission was sent to the 
pope, consisting of representatives from the Chris- 
tian princes of Bungo, Arima, and Omura. This 
mission consisted of two young Christian princes 
about sixteen years of age, accompanied by two 

^ In Chamberlain's Things Japanese the estimate is given that at 
this most prosperous time the number of Japanese professing Chris- 
tianity was not less than six hundred thousand, p. 297. 



1 88 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

counsellors who were of more mature years, and by 
Father Valignani, a Portuguese Jesuit, and by Father 
Diego de Mesquita as their preceptor and inter- 
preter. They visited the capitals of Portugal and 
Spain, which at this time were combined under the 
crown of Philip II. of Spain, and were received at 
both with the most impressive magnificence. They 
afterward visited Rome and were met by the body- 
guard of the pope and escorted into the city by a 
long cavalcade of Roman nobles. They were lodged 
in the house of the Jesuits, whence they were con- 
ducted by an immense procession to the Vatican. 
The Japanese ambassadors rode in this procession 
on horseback dressed in their richest native costume. 
They each presented to the pope the letter^ which 
they had brought from their prince, to which the 
reply of the pope was read. The presents which 
they had brought were also delivered, and after a 
series of most magnificent entertainments, and after 
they had been decorated as Knights of the Gilded 
Spears, they took their departure. In the meantime 
Pope Gregory XII L, who had received them, a few 
days later suddenly died A.D. 1585. His successor 
was Pope Sixtus V., who was equally attentive to 
the ambassadors, and who dismissed them with 
briefs addressed to their several princes. 

Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiaki, whom Nobunaga had 
been instrumental in installing, became restive in 
the subordinate part which he was permitted to play. 
He sought out the princes who still resisted Nobu- 

^ See the letter which the ambassador from the Prince of Bungo 
presented on this occasion. Hildredth's yapan, etc., p. 89. 



THE ASHIKAGA SHOGUNS AND NOBUNAGA, 1 89 

naga's supremacy and communicated with them in 
reference to combining against him. He even went 
so far as to fortify some of the castles near Kyoto. 
Nobunaga took strenuous measures against Yoshiaki, 
and in A.D. 1573 deposed him. He was the last of 
the Ashikaga shoguns, and with him came to an end 
a dynasty which had continued from Taka-uji in 
A.D. 1335 for two hundred and thirty-eight years. 

Nobunaga assumed the duties which had hitherto 
been performed by the shogun, that is he issued 
orders and made war and formed alliances in the 
name of the emperor. But he never took the name 
of shogun ^ or presum.ed to act in a capacity which 
from the time of Yoritomo had always been filled by 
a member of the Minamoto family, while he was a 
member of the Taira family. Whether this was the 
cause of his unwillingness to call himself by this title 
to which he might legitimately have aspired we can 
only conjecture. Of one thing we may be sure, that 
he was disinclined to arouse the enmity of the am- 
bitious princes of the empire, whose co-operation he 
still needed to establish his power on an enduring 
basis, by assuming a position which centuries of 
usage had appropriated to another family. The 
emperor bestowed upon him the title of nai-daijin, 
w^hich at this time however was a purely honorary 
designation and carried no power with it. 

^ In the First Part (1873) of Mittheilungen der Deutschen Gesell- 
schaft fiir Natur und Volkerkunde Ostasiens, p. 15, the times of 
Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, etc., are termed "die zeit der usurpatoren," 
the time of the usurpers. But Nobunaga and Hideyoshi were no 
more usurpers than the Tokugawas, who succeeded them by force of 
arms. 



190 THE SrORY OF JAPAN, 

The Prince of Chosu was one of the most power- 
ful of those who had not yet submitted to the su- 
premacy of Nobunaga. The present prince was 
Mori Terumoto, the grandson of the Mori Motonari 
who by conquest had made himself master of a 
large part of the central provinces. Nobunaga de- 
spatched Hideyoshi with the best equipped army 
that at that time had ever been fitted out in Japan, 
to subdue the provinces lying to the west of Kyoto. 
He did not overrate the abiHty of the general to 
whom he entrusted this task. They set out in the 
early part of the year A.D. 1578. Their first move- 
ment was against the strongholds of the province of 
Harima, which he reduced. We for the first time 
find mention in this campaign of Kuroda ^ Yoshi- 
taka, who in the invasion of Korea was a notable fig- 
ure. His services to Hideyoshi at this time were 
most signal. The campaign lasted about five years 
and added five provinces to Nobunaga's dominions. 
Then after a visit to Kyoto he continued his con- 
quests, never meeting with a defeat. The most 
remarkable achievement was the capture of the 
castle of Takamatsu, in the province of Sanuki. 
This castle was built with one side protected by the 
Kobe-gawa and two lakes lying on the other sides, so 
that it was impossible to approach it by land with a 
large force. Hideyoshi, with the genius for strategy 
which marked his character, saw that the only way 
to capture the fort was to drown it out with water. 

* Mr. Satow with rare literary insight has identified this Kuroda 
with the Condera Combiendono of the Jesuit fathers. Asiatic Society 
Transactions ^ vol. vii., p. 151. 



THF ASH IK AG A SHOGUNS AND NOBUNAGA. I91 

He then set his troops to dam up the river below 
the fortress. Gradually this was accomplished and 
as the water rose the occupants of the castle became 
more uncomfortable. Hideyoshi understanding his 
master's character feared to accomplish this important 
and critical exploit without Nobunaga's knowledge. 
He therefore wrote asking him to come without de- 
lay to his assistance. Nobunaga set out with a group 
of generals, among whom was Akechi Mitsuhide, 
with the troops under their command. They started 
from Azuchi on Lake Biwa, which was occupied as 
Nobunaga's headquarter^. They were to proceed 
to the besieged fort by the shortest route. Nobu- 
naga with a small escort went by way of Kyoto, ex- 
pecting soon to follow them. He took up his 
temporary abode in the temple of Honnoji. It was 
observed that Akechi with his troops took a different 
route from the others and marched towards Kyoto. 
When spoken to about his purpose he exclaimed, 
" My enemy is in the Hoimoji." He explained to 
his captains his purpose and promised them unlimi- 
ted plunder if they assisted him. He led his troops 
to Kyoto and directly to the Honnoji. Nobunaga 
hearing the noise looked out and at once saw who 
were the traitors. He defended himself for a time, 
but soon saw that he was hopelessly surrounded and 
cut off from help. He retired to an inner room of 
the temple, set it on fire, and then calmly committed 
hara-kiri. His body was buried in the burning and 
falling ruins. His death occurred in A.D. 1582. 

Thus ended the career of one of Japan's great 
men. He had shown the possibility of uniting the 



192 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

provinces of Japan under one strong government. 
He had given to Kyoto and the provinces lying 
east and north of it a period of peace and quiet 
under which great progress had been made in agri- 
culture, the arts and in literature. He was a warrior 
and not a statesman, and for this reason less was 
done than might have been in confirming and solidi- 
f57-ing the reforms which his conquest had made 
possible. Personally he was quick-tempered and 
overbearing, and often gave offence to those who 
were not able to see through his rough exterior to 
the true and generous heart which lay beneath. The 
cause of the plot against him was probably the con- 
sequence of a familiarity with which he sometimes 
treated his military subordinates. It is said that on 
one occasion in his palace when he had grown 
somewhat over-festive he took the head of his gene- 
ral Akechi ' under his arm and with his fan played 
a tune upon it, using it like a drum. Akechi was 
mortally offended and never forgave the humiliat- 
ing joke. His treason, which resulted in Nobunaga's 
death, was the final outcome of this bit of thought- 
less hors'^-play. 

^ See Shiga's History of Nations^ Tokyo, 1888, p. 128. 




CHAPTER IX. 

TOYOTOMI HIDEYOSHI. 

The death of Nobunaga in the forty-ninth year 
of his age left the country in a critical condition. 
Sakuma and Shibata had been his active retainers 
and generals for many years, and they had the most 
bitter and envious hatred toward Hideyoshi, whom 
they had seen advance steadily up to and past them 
in the march of military preferment. It was to 
Hideyoshi that the country looked to take up the 
work which Nobunaga's death had interrupted. 
Akechi began to realize when too late that he must 
reckon with him for his terrible crime. He appoint- 
ed two of his lieutenants to assassinate Hideyoshi 
on his way back to the capital. He sent word to 
Mori Terumoto, who was trying to raise the siege 
of the castle of Takamatsu, concerning Nobunaga's 
death, hoping that this tragedy would encourage 
Terumoto to complete his designs. 

In the meantime the news had reached Hideyo- 
shi. Terumoto had heard of the starting of Nobu- 
naga with additional troops, and had determined to 
make peace with Hideyoshi. He had sent messen- 
gers with a proposition for peace. The measures 
13 193 



194 ^^^ STORY OF JAPAN. 

for taking the castle had succeeded and it was sur- 
rendered. In this state of things Hideyoshi ^ pur- 
sued a course which was characteristic of him. He 
sent word to Terumoto that Nobunaga was now 
dead and that therefore his proposition for peace 
might, if he wished, be withdrawn. You must decide, 
he said, whether you will make peace or not ; it is 
immaterial whether I fight or conclude a treaty of 
peace. To such a message there could be only one 
answer. Peace was at once concluded and Hideyoshi 
started for Kyoto to deal with the traitors. 

The attempt to assassinate Hideyoshi on his 
journey came very near being successful. He was 
in such eagerness to reach his destination that he 
hurried on v/ithout regard to his army which ac- 
companied him. A small body-guard kept up as 
well as they could with their impatient chief. At 
Nishinomiya in this journey Hideyoshi, when in 
advance of his body-guard, was attacked by a band 
of the assassins. His only way of escape was by a 
narrow road between rice fields, leading to a small 
temple. When he had traversed part of this lane 
he dismounted, turning his horse around along the 
way he had come, and stabbed him in the hind leg„ 
Mad with pain, he galloped back with disastrous 
effect upon the band which was following him. 
Meanwhile Hideyoshi hurried to the temple. Here 
the priests were all in a big common bath-tub, tak- 
ing their bath. Hastily telling them who he was, 
and begging their protection, he stripped off his 
clothes and plunged in among the naked priests. 
^ Dening's Life of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, p. 274. 



TO YO TO MI HIDEYOSHI. 1 95 

When the assassins arrived, they could find nothing 
but a bath-tub full of priests, whom they soon left 
in search of the fugitive. As they disappeared, the 
anxious body-guard arrived, and were astonished 
and amused to find their chief clad in the garb of a 
priest and refreshed after his hurried journey with a 
luxurious bath/ 

Hideyoshi, as soon as he arrived at Kyoto, issued 
an invitation to all the princes to join him in punish- 
ing those who had brought about the death of Nobu- 
naga. A battle was fought at Yodo, not far from 
Kyoto, which resulted in the complete defeat of 
Akechi. He escaped, however, from this battle, but 
on his way to his own castle he was recognized by a 
peasant and wounded with a bamboo spear. Seeing 
now that all hope was gone, he committed hara-kiri, 
and thus ended his inglorious career. His head was 
exposed in front of Honnoji, the temple where 
Nobunaga perished. 

As might have been expected, this premature 
death of Nobunaga — for he was only forty-nine 
years old — created an intense excitement. The 
idea of heredity had so fixed a place in men's minds, 
that the only thought of Nobunaga's friends and re- 
tainers was to put forward in his place some one 
who should be his heir. There were living two sons, 
both by concubines, viz. Nobuo and Nobutaka, and 
a grandson, Samboshi, still a child, who was a son of 
his son Nobutada, now deceased. Each of these 
representatives had supporters among the powerful 
retainers of the dead prince. It may be assumed 

' See Dening's Life of Toyotomi Hideyoshi^ p. 278. 



196 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

chat each was supported not because of the rightful 
claim which he had to the estates and the power 
which the dead prince had left behind him, but 
solely because the supporters of the successful heir 
would be entrusted with special authority, and en- 
dowed with conquered provinces. It is sufificient to 
explain here that Hideyoshi supported the candidacy 
of the grandson, Samboshi, probably with no higher 
motive nor more disinterested purpose than the 
others. After a noisy and hot debate it was finally 
agreed that the grandson should be installed as suc- 
cessor, and Hideyoshi undertook to be his guardian. 
He had a large army at Kyoto, and with this he felt 
strong enough to carry things with a high hand. 
He appointed a funeral ceremony to be held in honor 
of Nobunaga, to which all the princes were invited, 
and he posted his troops in such a way as to com- 
mand every avenue of approach. He claimed for 
himself, as guardian of the child Samboshi, prece- 
dence of all the princes and generals. So at the 
funeral service, with the child Samboshi in his arms, 
he proceeded in advance of all others to pay 
memorial honors to the dead. He supported this 
actjon with such an overwhelming display of mili- 
tary force that his enemies were afraid to show any 
resistance. 

The disappointed princes retired to their provinces 
and hoped that by some fortuitous circumstances 
they might still be able to circumvent the plans of 
Hideyoshi. He saw well that he must meet the oppo- 
sition which would be concentrated on him by ac- 
tivity and force. As a general not one of his enemies 



TO YO TO MI HIDEYOSHI. 1 97 

could compare with him in fertility of resources, in 
decisiveness of action, and in command of military 
strength. His first contest was with his old com- 
rade in arms Shibata Katsuie, who had served with 
him under Nobunaga, and who was intensely jealous 
of Hideyoshi's rapid rise in military rank and terri- 
torial authority. Shibata had championed the cause of 
Nobutaka in the contest as to the successor of Nobu- 
naga. He had command of troops in Echizen, and 
Nobutaka was governor of the castle of Gifu in the 
province of Mino. The campaign was a short and 
decisive one. The battle was fought at Shigutake 
and resulted in the complete defeat of Shibata and 
his allies. It is notable that in this battle artillery 
were used and played a conspicuous part. Shibata 
after- his overthrow committed hara-kiri. Nobu- 
taka having escaped also put an end to himself. 
Thus the active enemies of Hideyoshi in the north 
and west were overcome and the forfeited territory 
made use of to reward his friends. 

His next contest was with the adherents of Nobuo, 
the other son of Nobunaga. This was made memor- 
able by the assistance which leyasu rendered to 
Nobuo. Hideyoshi's army, himself not being 
present, was defeated. leyasu being satisfied with 
this victory and knowing that he could not ulti- 
mately triumph now made peace with Hideyoshi. 
The island of Shikoku, which was under the control 
of Chosokabe Motochika was reduced to subjection 
in a brief campaign and the chiefs compelled to do 
duty to Hideyoshi as their head. 

It seems that at this time Hideyoshi was ambi 



198 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

tious to attain official appointment which would 
legitimately descend to his children and make him 
the founder of a new line of shoguns. He applied 
to the ex-shogun Yoshiaki,whom Nobunaga had de- 
posed' and who was now living in retirement, inti- 
mating that it would be to his interest to adopt 
him as his son so that he could be appointed by the 
emperor as shogun. , But Yoshiaki declined to com- 
ply with this suggestion on account of Hideyoshi's 
humble origin. In place of this appointment, how- 
ever, he was installed A.D. 1585 by the Emperor 
Ogimachi as Kuanibaku, which is higher in rank 
than any other office in the gift of the imperial 
court. Hitherto this title had been borne exclu- 
sively by members of the Fujiwara family, and it 
must have been a severe blow to their aristocratic 
pride to have a humble plebeian who had risen 
solely by his own talents thus elevated by imperial 
appointment to this dignified position. He also 
received at this time the name of Toyotomi" by 
which he was afterward called, and in recognition of 
his successful conquest of much territory he received 
A D. 1575 the honorary title of Chikuzen-no-kami. 

There were a few years from about A.D. 1583 — 
with an important exception which will be given 

' See p. 189. 

"^ His original name was Nakamura Hyoshi, the family taking its 
name from the village where he was born. Then at his induction to 
manhood A.D. 1553 his name was changed to Tokichi Takayoshi. At 
another turn in his career he became Kinoshita Tokichi Takayoshi, 
In the year A.D. 1562 he received permission to use the name Hide- 
yoshi instead of Tokichi, and A.D. 1575 his name was again changed 
to Hashiba, which the Jesuit fathers wrote Faxiba. 



TO YO TO MI HTDEYOSHT 



199 



below — when peace reigned in all the territories of 
Japan, and when Hideyoshi devoted himself wisely 
and patiently to the settlement of the feudal condi- 
tion of the country. It was at this time he began 
building his great castle at Osaka which occupied 
about two years. Workmen were drawn from almost 
all parts of Japan, and a portion of it is said to have 
been finer and more massive than had ever been 
seen in Japan. This magnificent work' survived its 
capture by leyasu in 16 14 and remained undisturbed 
down to the wars of the restoration in 1868, when it 
was burned by the Tokugawa troops at the time 
they were about to evacuate it. 

The exception to which reference is made above 
was the important campaign which Hideyoshi was 
called upon to conduct in the island of Kyushu 
against the Satsuma clan.^ The distance at which 
Kyusha lay from the centre of imperial operations, 
the mountainous and inaccessible character of a 
great part of the territory, made it no easy matter 
to deal with the refractory inhabitants of this island. 
The Satsuma clan even at that early day had a repu- 
tation for bravery and dash which made them feared 
by ail their neighbors. The prince of Satsuma at 
this time was Shimazu Yoshihisa, a member of the 
same family who held the daimiate until the aboli- 
tion of the feudal system. It is a tradition that the 
first of this family was a son of Yoritomo, who in 

' See Satow and Hawes' Handbook, p. 341, 

^ The facts here related concerning this most interesting episode in 
the life of Hideyoshi are chiefly taken from a paper furnished by Mr. 
J. H. Gubbins to the Asiatic Society Transactions, vol. viii., p. 92. 



200 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

the year A.D. 1193 was appointed governor of Sat- 
suma. Like all the feudal princes of the period, the 
prince of Satsuma was ambitious to extend his do 
minion as far as possible. Hyuga, Bungo, Higo> 
and Hizen were either wholly or in part subject to 
his authority, so that by the year A.D. 1585 it was 
the boast of the prince that eight provinces acknowl- 
edged him as lord.' 

It was in this critical period that Hideyoshi was 
appealed to for help by the threatened provinces. 
He first sent a special envoy to Kagoshima, who was 
directed to summon the prince to Kyoto to submit 
himself to the emperor and seek investiture from 
him for the territories which he held. Shimazu 
received this message with scorn, tore up the letter 
and trampled it under his feet, and declared that to 
a man of mean extraction like Hideyoshi he would 
never yield allegiance. Both parties recognized the 
necessity of deciding this question by the arbitra- 
ment of war. 

Hideyoshi called upon thirty-seven provinces to 
furnish troops for this expedition. It is said that 
150,000 men were assembled at Osaka ready to be 
transported into Kyusho. The vanguard, consist- 
ing of 60,000 men under Hidenaga, the brother of 
Hideyoshi, set sail January 7, A.D. 1587. Troops 
from the western provinces joined these, so that this 
advanced army numbered not less than 90,000 men. 

^ The Emperor Ogimachi retired from the throne A.D. 1586, and 
was succeeded by Go-Yojo, then sixteen years old. It shows of how 
small account the emperors had become, that this change in the head 
of the nation is scarcely mentioned in the histories of the time. 



TO YO TO MI HIDEYOSHI. 20I 

In due time, January 22d, Hideyoshi himself, with 
his main army, consisting of 130,000 men, left Osaka, 
marching by land to Shimonoseki, and from this 
point crossing over to Kyushu. The Satsuma armies 
were in all cases far outnumbered, and step by step 
were compelled to retreat upon Kagoshima. Hide- 
yoshi had by means of spies ^ acquired a complete 
knowledge of the difficult country through which 
his armies must march before reaching Kagoshima. 
After much fighting the Satsuma troops were at last 
driven into the castle of Kagoshima, and it only 
remained for Hideyoshi to capture this stronghold 
in order to end in the most brilliant manner his 
undertaking. 

It was at this juncture that Hideyoshi made one 
of these surprising and clever movements which 
stamp him as a man of consummate genius. In- 
stead of capturing the fortress and dividing up the 
territory among his deserving generals, as was ex- 
pected, he restored to the Shimazu family its origi- 
nal buildings, viz., the provinces of Satsuma an4 
Osumi and half the province of Hyuga, only im- 
posing as a condition that the present reigning 
prince should retire in favor of his son, and that he 
should, hold his fief as a grant from the emperor. 
Thus ended one of the most memorable of the 

^ The spies and guides employed by Hideyoshi were priests of the 
Shin sect of Buddhists, who after the fall of Kagoshima were discov- 
ered and crucified. A decree was also issued that every inhabitant of 
Satsuma who was connected with this sect must renounce his creed. 
To this day there exists among the people of Satsuma a general hos- 
tility to the Buddhists which can be traced to this trying episode. 
See Asiatic Society Transactions, vol. viii., p. 143. 



202 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

campaigns which Hideyoshi had up to this time 
undertaken, and with this also closed a series of 
events which exerted a permanent influence on the 
history of Japan. 

It will be desirable at this point to trace the in= 
cidents which had transpired in connection with the 
Jesuit fathers. It will be remembered that the work 
of the fathers ' was much interfered with by the 
political troubles which preceded the advent of No- 
bunaga. Owing to their taking sides with his 
enemies he was very much incensed against the 
Buddhist priests and visited his indignation upon 
them in a drastic measure."" His desire to humili- 
ate the Buddhist priests probably led him to assume 
a favorable attitude towards the Christian fathers. 
As long therefore as Nobunaga lived, churches were 
protected and the work of proselyting went on. 
Even after the death of Nobunaga in A.D. 1582 noth- 
ing occurred for some time to interfere with the 
spread of Christianity. Hideyoshi was too much 
occupied with political and military affairs to give 
much attention to the circumstances concerning 
religion. Indeed the opinion of Mr. Dening' in his 
Life of Hideyoshi is no doubt true, that he was in no 
respect of a religious temperament. Even the super- 
stitions of his own country were treated with scant 
courtesy by this great master of men. 

Gregory XIII. seeing what progress the Jesuits 
were making, and realizing how fatal to success any 
conflict between rival brotherhoods would be, issued 

1 See p. 178. . "" See p. 186. 

^ See Dening's Life of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, pp. 148, 344. 



TO YO TOM I HIDEYOSHI, 203 

a brief in A.D. 1585, that no religious teachers except 
Jesuits should be allowed in Japan. This regulation 
was exceedingly distasteful to both the Dominicans 
and the Franciscans, especially after the visit of the 
Japanese embassy to Lisbon, Madrid, and Rome 
had directed the attention of the whole religious 
world to the triumphs which the Jesuits were making 
in Japan. Envy against the Portuguese merchants 
for their monopoly of the Japanese trade had also 
its place in stirring up the Spaniards at Manila to 
seek an entrance to the island empire. The opposi- 
tion with which Christianity had met was repre- 
sented as due to the character and behavior of the 
missioners. In view of these circumstances the 
Spanish governor of Manila sent a letter to Hide- 
yoshi, asking for permission to open trade with 
some of the ports of Japan. Four Franciscans at- 
tached themselves to the bearer of this letter and in 
this way were introduced into the interior of Japan. 
Among the valuable presents sent to Hideyoshi by 
the governor of Manila was a fine Spanish horse ^ 
with all its equipments. These Franciscans who 
came in this indirect way were permitted to estab- 
lish themselves in Kyoto and Nagasaki. They were 
at once met by the protest of the Jesuits who urged 
that the brief of the pope excluded them. But these 
wily Franciscans replied that they had entered 
Japan as ambassadors and not as religious fathers, 

^ When Father Valignani came to Japan in a.d. 1577 it is said 
that he brought as one of his presents a beautiful Arabian horse. It 
is not improbable that some of the improved breeds, now seen in 
the southern provinces, owe their origin to these valuable horses 
sent over as presents. 



204 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

and that now when they were in Japan the brief of 
the pope did not require them to leave. 

A very bitter state of feeling from the first there- 
fore manifested itself between the Jesuits and Fran- 
ciscans. The latter claimed that the opposition they 
met with was due to the plots and intrigues of the 
Jesuits, and they openly avowed that the Jesuit 
fathers through cowardice failed to exert themselves 
in the fulfilment of their religious duties, and in a 
craven spirit submitted to restrictions on their 
liberty to preach. Hideyoshi's suspicion was aroused 
against the foreigners about this time, A.D. 1587, by 
the gossip of a Portuguese sea-captain which had 
been reported to him. This report represented the 
captain as saying : '' The king, my master, begins 
by sending priests who win over the people; 
and when this is done he despatches his troops 
to join the native Christians, and the con- 
quest is easy and complete." ^ This plan seemed 
so exactly to agree with experiences in China, 
India, and the East Indies, that Hideyoshi resolved 
to make it impossible in Japan. He therefore 
issued an edict in the year A.D. 1587 commanding 
all foreign religious teachers on pain of death to 
depart from Japan in twenty days. This edict, 
however, gave leave to Portuguese merchants ^' to 
traffic and reside in our ports till further order ; but 
withal we do hereby strictly forbid them, on pain of 

1 See Chamberlain's Things Japanese, i8g2, p. 298, note. Ac- 
cording to Charlevoix this indiscreet speech was made by a Spanish 
captain. See Gubbin's paper, Asiatic Society Transactions^ rol. 
vi., part ii., p. 16. 



TO YO TO MI HIDEYOSHI. 205 

having both their ships and merchandises confis- 
cated, to bring over with them any foreign 
religious." ^ 

In consequence of this edict, in A.D. 1593 six 
Franciscans and three Jesuits were arrested in 
Osaka and Kyoto and taken to Nagasaki, and there 
burnt. This was the first case of the execution of 
Christians by the order of the government. To 
explain the transportation of these missionaries to 
Nagasaki and their execution there, it should be 
stated that in A.D. 1586, at the close of the Satsuma 
campaign, Nagasaki had been taken from the prince 
of Omura and made a government city, to be con- 
trolled by a governor appointed immediately- from 
Kyoto. Shortly after this, in A.D. 1590, on account 
of its superior harbor, it was fixed upon as the only 
port at which foreign vessels would be admitted. 

There was still one refractory element in his 
dominions which it was necessary to deal with. 
Hojo Ujimasa maintained a hostile attitude at 
Odawara. He was determined once for all to 
reduce this rebellious chief and the others who 
might be influenced by his example. It is unneces- 
sary to give the details of this short but decisive 
undertaking. Only one incident deserves to be 
given as illustrative of the character of Hideyoshi. 
In sending troops to the field of action it was neces- 
sary that a large number of horses should cross the 
sea of Enshu,^ which was usually very rough at that 
time of year. The boatmen, as is usual, were very 

' For the text of this edict see Dickson's Japan^ p. 172. 
■^ See Satow and Hawes' Handbook^ 2d ed., p. 72. 



206 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

superstitious, and had a decided aversion to trans^ 
porting the horses in their boats ; averring that the 
god of the sea Ryugu had a special disHke for 
horses. Hideyoshi sent for the boatmen and told 
them that he had undertaken this expedition at the 
command of the emperor, and that the god of the 
sea was too polite to interfere in anything pertain- 
ing to the transportation of troops for such a pur- 
pose. He said however that he would make it all 
right by writing a letter to Ryugu, instructing him 
to insure the safe passage of the ships. This was 
done, and a letter addressed ^' Mr. RyugQ " was 
thrown into the sea. The boatmen were satisfied, 
and the horses were taken over without difificulty.* 

With the fall of Odawara the whole of the 
Kwanto, comprising the provinces of Sagami, 
Musashi, Kotsuke, Shimotsuke, Hitachi, Shimosa, 
Kazusa, and Awa came into the possession of 
Hideyoshi. During the progress of the siege, it is 
said that he and leyasu were standing in a watch 
tower which they had built on the heights above 
the castle of Odawara. Hideyoshi pointed to the 
great plain before them and said ^ : " Before many 
days I will have conquered all this, and I propose to 
give it into your keeping." 

leyasu thanked him warmly' and said : " That 
were indeed great luck." 

Hideyoshi added : " Wilt thou reside here at 
Odawara as the Hojo have done up to this time ? ** 

leyasu answered : " Aye, my lord, that I will." 

^ See Dening's Life of Toyotojui Hideyoshi, p. 405. 
8 See Adams* History of Japan, vol. i. , p. 66. 



TO YO TOM I HIDEYOSHI. 20/ 

" That will not do," said Hideyoshi. " I see on 
the map that there is a place called Yedo about 
twenty ri eastward from us. It is a position far 
better than this, and that will be the place for thee 
to live." 

leyasu bowed low and replied : " I will with 
reverence obey your lordship's directions." 

In accordance with this conversation after the 
fall of Odawara, leyasu was endowed with the 
provinces of the Kwanto and took up his residence 
at Yedo. This is the first important appearance of 
Yedo in the general history of Japan. It had how- 
ever an earlier history, when in the fifteenth century 
it appears as a fishing village called Ye-dOj that is 
door of the bay. Near this fishing village Ota 
Dokwan, a feudal baron, built himself in A.D. 1456 
a castle. With the advent of leyasu, Yedo became 
a place of first importance, a rank which it still 
holds. The object of Hideyoshi in thus entrusting 
this great heritage to leyasu seems to have been to 
secure him by the chains of gratitude to himself and 
his family. Already leyasu was connected by mar- 
riage with Hideyoshi, his wife being Hideyoshi's 
sister. By making him lord of an immense and 
powerful country he hoped to secure him in per-= 
petual loyalty to himself and his heirs. 

In order that he might be free from the cares 
and responsibilities of the government at home, 
Hideyoshi retired from the position of kwambaku 
A.D. 1 591 and took the title of Taiko. By this title 
he came to be generally known in Japanese history, 
Taiko Sama, or my lord Taiko, being the form by 



2o8 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

which he was commonly spoken of. His nephew 
and heir Hidetsugu was at this time promoted to 
the title of kwambaku, and was ostensibly at the 
head of the government. The Jesuit fathers speak 
of him as mild and amiable, and as at one time a 
hopeful student of the Christian religion. They 
note however a strange characteristic in him, that 
he was fond of cruelty and that when criminals 
were to be put to death he sought the privilege of 
cutting them into pieces and trying cruel experi- 
ments upon their suffering bodies. 

In A.D. 1592 Taiko Sama had by one of his wives 
a son, whom he named Hideyori. Over this new- 
born heir, whom, however, many suspect of not 
being Taiko Sama's son, he made great rejoicing 
throughout the empire. He required his nephew to 
adopt this new-born son as his heir, although he had 
several sons of his own. The result of this action 
was a feeling of hostility between the uncle and 
nephew. Hidetsugu applied to Mori, the chief of 
Chosu, to aid him in the conflict with his uncle. 
But Mori was too wary to enter upon such a contest 
with the veteran general. Instead of helping 
Hidetsugu, he revealed to Taiko Sama the traitorous 
proposition of his nephew. Hidetsugu was there- 
upon stripped of his office and sent as an exile to 
the monastery of Koya-san in the province of Kii. 
A year later he was commanded with his attendants 
to commit hara-kiri ; and with an unusual exhibi- 
tion of cruelty, his counsellors, wives, and children 
were likewise put to death. 

Hideyoshi had for a long time contemplated the 



TO YO TO MI HIDEYOSHI. 209 

invasion of Korea and ultimately of China. In a 
conversation with Nobunaga when he was about to 
set out on his conquest of the western provinces he 
is represented as saying^: "I hope to bring the 
whole of Chugoku into subjection to us. When 
that is accomplished I will go on to Kyushu and 
take the whole of it. When Kyushu is ours, if you 
will grant me the revenue of that island for one 
year, I will prepare ships of war, and purchase provi- 
sions, and go over and take Korea. Korea I shall 
ask you to bestow on me as a reward for my services, 
and to enable me to make still further conquests ; 
for with Korean troops, aided by your illustrious 
influence, I intend to bring the whole of China 
under my sway. When that is effected, the three 
countries [China, Korea, and Japan] will be one. I 
shall do it all as easily as a man rolls up a piece of 
matting and carries it under his arm." He had al- 
ready carried out part of this plan ; he had brought 
the whole of Chugoku and of the island of Kyushu 
under his rule. It remained for him to effect the 
conquest of Korea and China in order to complete 
his ambitious project. 

For this purpose he needed ships on a large scale, 
for the transportation of troops and for keeping 
them supplied with necessary provisions. From the 
foreign merchants, who traded at his ports, he hoped 
to obtain ships larger and stronger than were built 
in his own dominions. It was a great disappoint- 
ment to him when he found this impossible, and 
that the merchants, whom he had favored, were un< 

' See Dening's Life of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, p. 263. 



2IO THE SrORY OF JAPAN, 

willing to put their ships at his disposal. It is 
claimed by the Jesuit fathers that this disappoint- 
ment was the chief reason for the want of favor with 
which Hideyoshi regarded them during the last 
years of his life. It is also advanced as one reason 
for his entering on the invasion of Korea, that he 
might thus employ in distant and dangerous expedi- 
tions some of the Christian princes whose fidelity to 
himself and loyalty to the emperor he thought he 
had reason to doubt. He was ambitious, so they 
said, to rival in his own person the reputation of the 
Emperor Ojin, who rose in popular estimation to 
the rank of Hachiman, the god of war, and who is 
worshipped in many temples, because, while he was 
still unborn, his mother led a hostile and successful 
expedition into this same Korea. 

The immediate pretext ^ for a war was the fact 
that for many years the embassies which it had been 
the custom to send from Korea to Japan with gifts 
and acknowledgments had been discontinued. In 
A.D. 1582 he sent an envoy to remonstrate, who was 
unsuccessful. Subsequently he sent the prince of 
Tsushima, who had maintained at Fusan, a port of 
Korea, a station for trade, to continue negotiations. 
After some delay and the concession of important 
conditions the prince had the satisfaction, in A.D. 
1 590, of accompanying an embassy which the gov- 
ernment of Korea sent to Hideyoshi. They arrived 

' We are indebted to Mr. W. G. Aston for a full and clear account 
of Hideyoshi's invasion of Korea, which he had derived not only 
from Japanese books and documents, but from Korean sources 
w^hich, until his researches, vi^ere inaccessible. See Asiatic Society 
Transactions , vol. vi., p. 227 ; ix., pp. 87, 213. 



TO YO TO MI HIDEYOSHI. 211 

at Kyoto at the time when Hideyoshi was absent 
on his campaign against Hojo Ujimasa at Odawara. 
He allowed them to await his return, and even when 
he had resumed his residence at the capital he 
showed no eagerness to give them an audience. On 
the pretence that the hall of audience needed re- 
pairs, he kept them waiting many months before he 
gave orders for their reception. It seemed that he 
was trying to humiliate them in revenge for their 
dilatoriness in coming to him. It is not impossible 
that he had already made up his mind to conduct 
an expedition in any event into Korea and China, 
and the disrespect with which he treated the embassy 
was with the deliberate intention of widening the 
breach already existing. 

Mr. Aston has given us an .account of the recep- 
tion which was finally accorded to the ambassadors, 
drawn from Korean sources, and which shows that 
they were entertained in a very unceremonious fash- 
ion. They were surprised to find that in Japan this 
man whom they had been led to look upon as a 
sovereign was only a subject. They presented a 
letter from the king of Korea conveying his con- 
gratulations and enumerating the gifts ^ he had sent. 
These enumerated gifts consisted of horses, falcons, 
saddles, harness, cloth of various kinds, skins, gin- 
seng, etc. These were articles which the Japanese 
of an earlier age had prized very highly and for the 
more artistic production of some of which the Ko- 

^ The peculiarly Eastern form of expression is noticeable in an- 
nouncing these presents : " You will find enclosed a list of some of 
the poor productions of our country, which we beg you will refrain 
from laughing at immoderately." 



212 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

reans had rendered material assistance. Hideyoshi 
suggested that the embassy should return to their 
own country at once without waiting for an answer 
to their letter. This they were unwilling to do. So 
they waited at Sakai whence they were to sail, 
till the kwambakii was pleased to send them a mes- 
sage for their king. It was so arrogant in tone that 
they had to beg for its modification several times 
before they dared to carry it home. The letter 
plainly announced his intention to invade China and 
called upon the Koreans to aid him in this purpose. 

The ambassadors went home with the conviction 
that it was Hideyoshi's intention to invade their 
country. At their instigation the government made 
what preparations it could, by repairing fortresses, 
and collecting troops, arms, and provisions. The 
country was a poor country, and had had the good 
fortune or the misfortune to remain at peace for 
two hundred years. The arts of war had been for- 
gotten. They had no generals who could cope with 
the practised soldiers of Japan. Firearms which 
had been introduced into the military equipments of 
Japanese armies were almost unknown in Korea. It 
is true that they had been taken under the protec- 
tion of China and could call upon her for aid. But 
China was distant and slow, and Korea might be 
destroyed before her slumbering energies could be 
aroused. 

The preparations which Hideyoshi made, as was 
his custom, were thorough and extensive. Each 
prince in Kyushu, as being nearest to the seat of 
war, was required to furnish a quota of troops in 



TOYOrOMI HIDEYOSHh 213 

proportion to his revenues. Each prince in Shikoku 
and in the Main island, in like manner, was to pro- 
v^ide troops proportionate to his revenue and his 
proximity to the seat of war. Princes whose terri- 
tories bordered on the sea were to furnish junks and 
boats, and men to handle them. The force which 
was thus assembled at Nagoya, now called Karatsu, 
in Hizen was estimated at 300,000 men, of whom 
130,000 were to be immediately despatched. Hi- 
deyoshi did not personally lead this force. It was 
under the command of two generals who were inde- 
pendent of each other, but were ordered to co- 
operate. One of these generals was Konishi Yuki- 
naga Settsu-no-kami, whom the Jesuit fathers refer 
to under the name of Don Austin. From an humble 
position in Hfe he had risen to high and responsible 
rank in the army. Under the influence of Takeyama, 
a Christian prince, whom the Jesuit fathers call Justo 
Ucondono, he had been converted to Christianity. 
Hideyoshi, as has been pointed out, was desirous of 
securing the help of the Christian princes in 
Kyushu, and therefore appointed a Christian as one 
of the generals-in-chief. Under him were sent the 
contingents from Bungo, Omura, Arima, and other 
provinces where the Christian element was predomi- 
nant. This division of the invading army may 
therefore be looked upon as representing the Chris- 
tian population of the empire. The other general- 
in-chief was Kato Kiyomasa,' who had been 

* He became one of the most famous heroes of Japan, and is wor- 
shipped under the name of Seishoko, at a shrine connected with the 
temple of Hommonji at Ikegami. Satow and Hawes' Handbook^ 
p. 30. 



214 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

associated with Hideyoshi ever since the times of 
Nobunaga. He was the son of a blacksmith and in 
A.D. 1563 he became one of Hideyoshi's retainers. 
He was a man of unusual size and of great personal 
bravery. He commanded an army collected mainly 
from the northern and eastern provinces, which com- 
prised the experienced veterans of Hideyoshi's earlier 
campaigns. He is usually spoken of as inimical to 
the Christians, but this enmity probably grew up 
along with the ill-feeling between the two armies in 
Korea. 

Konishi's division arrived in Korea April 13, A.D. 
1592, and captured the small town of Fusan, 
which had been the port at which the Japanese had 
for generations maintained a trading post. After 
the arrival of Kato the two divisions marched tow- 
ards the capital, reducing without difificulty the 
castles that lay in their way. The greatest terror 
prevailed among the inhabitants, and the court, with 
King Riyen at its head, resolved to flee into the 
province bordering on China. The armies reached 
the capital and then set out northward. The dissen- 
sions between the commanders had by this time 
reached such a point that they determined to sepa- 
rate. Kato traversed the northeastern provinces 
and in his course captured many Koreans of rank. 

Konishi marched to the north and found the king 
at Pingshang on the borders of the river Taitong- 
Kiang. Here he was joined by Kuroda Noritaka, 
whom the Jesuit fathers named Condera' Combien- 

' See Mr. Satow's identification of this name. Asiatic Society 
Transactions t vol. vii., p. 15 1. 



TO YO TOM I HIDEYOSHI. 21$ 

dono, and by Yoshitoshi the prince of Tsushima, 
who had marched with their forces by a different 
route. An effort at negotiations at this point met 
with no success. The king continued his flight 
northward to Ichiu, a fortified town on the borders 
of China. After he left a sharp contest took place 
between the besiegers and defenders, which resulted 
in the abandonment of the town and its capture by 
the Japanese. The stores of grain which had been 
collected by the Koreans were captured with the 
town. 

Konishi was anxious to conduct further military 
operations in connection with the Japanese vessels 
which had been lying all this time at Fusan. 
Directions were accordingly sent to have the junks 
sent round to the western coast. The Koreans 
picked up courage to show fight with their vessels, 
which seemed to have been of a superior construc- 
tion to those of their enemies. They allured the 
Japanese boats out to sea and then turned upon 
them suddenly and treated them so roughly that 
they were glad to get back to the protection of the 
harbor and to give up the purpose of cruising along 
the western coast. The result of this httle success 
encouraged the Koreans so much that it may be said 
to have been a turning point in the invasion. 

In the meantime the piteous appeals of the 
Koreans to China had produced some effect. A 
small army of five thousand men, which was raised 
in the adjoining province of Laotung, was sent to 
their aid. This insujfficient force rashly undertook 
to attack the Japanese in Pingshang. But they 



2l6 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

/ed the invaders into the town, and then so 
thoroughly routed them that the escaped remnants 
made their way back to Laotung. This experience 
led the Chinese officials to see that if they wished 
to help the Koreans at all they must despatch a 
stronger force. This they set to work at once to 
do. They endeavored to gain some time by pre= 
tending to enter upon negotiations for an armistice. 
During the autumn months of A.D. 1592 the 
Japanese troops were almost idle. And they were 
very much taken by surprise when near the end of 
the year the Chinese army, forty thousand strong, 
besides Koreans, made its appearance on the scene. 
The Japanese commander had no time to call for 
help, and before he realized the imminency of the 
danger Pingshang was attacked. Being far outnum- 
bered Konishi deemed it prudent to make his escape 
from the beleaguered town, and to save his army by 
a retreat, which was a painful and inglorious one. 

The other division of the Japanese army under 
Kato, who had occupied the west coast, found its 
position untenable with a superior Chinese army 
threatening it. It also was compelled to retreat 
towards the south. But the veteran army of Kato 
was not content to yield all that it had gained with- 
out a struggle. A bloody engagement followed 
near Pachiung, in which the Chinese and Korean 
army suffered a significant defeat. The Chinese army 
then retired to Pingshang, and Kato was not in a 
condition to follow it over the impassable winter 
roads and with deficient supplies. The Japanese 
troops had suffered an experience such as never befell 



TO YO TO MI HIDEYOSHI. 21/ 

Jiem under the redoubtable leadership of Hideyoshi. 
And the Chinese had had enough of the terrible 
two-handed swords which the Japanese soldier 
could wield so effectively/ 

The chief obstacle to peace was the mutual dis- 
trust with which each of the three parties regarded 
the others. Korea hated the Japanese with a per- 
fect and justifiable hatred ; she also feared and 
despised the pompous and pretentious pride of 
China. But in the negotiations which ensued the 
country which had suffered most had least to say. 
It remained for the two greater powers to come to 
some agreement which should be satisfactory to 
them ; and w^hether Korea were satisfied or not was 
of secondary moment. 

The Japanese envoy proceeded to Peking and is 
said to have negotiated peace on these conditions : 
That the emperor of China should grant to Hide- 
yoshi the honor of investiture, that the Japanese 
troops should all leave Korea, and that Japan should 
engage never to invade Korea again. There was 
some jangling about the withdrawal of the Japanese 
soldiers but at last this matter was arranged. 

An embassy was sent by the Chinese government 
to Japan to carry out the ceremony of investiture. 
They arrived in the autumn of the year A.D. 1596. 
Taiko Sama made elaborate preparations for their 
reception. Some fears were felt as to how Taiko 
Sama would regard this proposition of investiture 
when he came to understand it. The Buddhist 
priest, who was to translate the Chinese document 

^ See Mr. Aston's paper, Asiatic Society Transactions , vol. ix., p. go 



21 8 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

<nto Japanese' for the benefit of Taiko Sama, was 
urged to make some modification in the wording to 
conciliate his ambition. But he was too honest to 
depart from the true rendering. He read to Taiko 
Sama and the assembled court a letter from the 
Chinese emperor granting him investiture as king 
of Japan, and announced having sent by the am- 
bassadors the robe and the golden seal pertaining 
to the office. 

Taiko Sama listened with amazement,^ as he for 
the first time realized that the Emperor of China by 
this document had undertaken to invest him as king 
of Japan instead of ('' Ming emperor "). He was in 
an uncontrollable rage. He tore off the robe which 
he had put on. He snatched the document from 
the reader and tore it into shreds, exclaiming: 
'^ Since I have the whole of this country in my 
grasp, did I wish to become its emperor I could do 
so without the consent of the barbarians." He was 
with difficulty restrained from taking the life of 
the Japanese ambassador who had negotiated the 
treaty. He Sent word to the Chinese envoys who 
had brought the robe and seal to begone back to 
their country and to tell their emperor that he would 
send troops to slaughter them like cattle. Both 
Korea and China knew that a new invasion would 

' A Japanese scholar couid read such a document in the ideographic 
Chinese characters without translation ; but Taiko Sama was not a 
scholar and therefore was not aware of the purport of the document 
until it was translated to him. 

^ See Mr„ Aston's description of this humiliating scene as given in 
Asiatic Society Trajtsactions, vol. ix., p. 217 ; also Dening's Life oj 
ToyotojJii Hideyoshi, p. 360. 



TO YO TO MI HIDE YO SHI. 219 

surely result from this disappointment. Kato and 
Konishi the Japanese generals in the previous cam- 
paign and who had gone home during the interval 
were ordered back to take command of the old 
troops and of fresh recruits which were to be sent. 
They busied themselves with repairing the fortifica- 
tions which had been left in possession of the 
Japanese garrisons. 

The disgraced and frightened Chinese ambas- 
sadors made their way back to Peking. They were 
ashamed to present themselves without showing 
something in return for the gifts they had carried to 
Taiko Sama. They purchased some velvets and 
scarlet cloth, which they represented as the presents 
which had been sent. They pretended that Taiko 
Sama was mu.ch pleased with the investiture, and 
that his invasion of Korea was due to the fact that 
the Korean government had interfered to prevent 
the free and kindly intercourse between China and 
Japan. The cloth and velvet, however, were at once 
recognized as European productions and not derived 
from Japan. So the ambassadors were charged 
with deceit and at last confessed. 

The Japanese army was reinforced, it is said, with 
1 30,000 fresh troops. Supplies, however, were difB- 
cult to obtain, and the movements were much hin- 
dered. A small Chinese army of 5,000 men arrived 
at the end of the year A.D. 1597 to aid the Koreans. 
An attack on the Japanese ships at Fusan was made 
by the Korean navy, but it was without difificulty 
repelled and most of the attacking ships destroyed. 
After some material advantages, which, however^ 



220 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

i\^ere not decisive, the Japanese troops were forced 
to return to Fusan for the winter. The principal 
engagement was at Yol-san, a strong position, acces- 
sible both by sea and land. It was garrisoned by 
troops of Kato's division, who were brave and de- 
termined. The army composed of Chinese and 
Koreans, under the Chinese commander-in-chief 
Hsing-chieh, laid siege to this fortress, and suc- 
ceeded in cutting off all its communications. But 
Kuroda and Hachisuka came to Kato's assistance, 
and compelled the Chinese general to raise the siege 
and retreat to Soul, the Korean capital. It was in 
one of the battles fought during the summer of 
A.D. 1598, that 38,700 heads of Chinese and Korean 
soldiers are said to have been taken. The heads 
were buried in a mound after the ears and noses 
had been cut off. These grewsome relics of savage 
warfare were pickled in tubs and sent home to 
Kyoto, where they were deposited in a mound in 
the grounds of the temple of Daibutsu, and over 
them a monument erected which is marked 'utiini- 
ziika or ear-mound. There the mound and monu- 
ment can be seen to this day.^ 

The death of Taiko Sama occurred on the day 
equivalent to the i8th of September, A.D. 1598, and 
on his death-bed he seems to have been troubled 
with the thought of the veteran warriors who were 
uselessly wearing out their lives in Korea. In his 
last moments he opened his eyes and exclaimed 
earnestly : " Let not the spirits of the hundred 
thousand troops I have sent to Korea become dis- 
^ See Satovv and Hawes' Handbook, p. 369. 



TO YO TO MI HIDEYOSHI. 221 

embodied in a foreign land." ^ leyasu, on whom 
devolved the military responsibility after the Taiko's 
death, and who had never sympathized with his 
wishes and aims regarding Korea, did not delay the 
complete withdrawal of the troops which still re- 
mained in Korea. 

Thus ended a chapter in the history of Japan, 
on which her best friends can look back with 
neither pride nor satisfaction. This war was begun 
without any sufficient provocation, and its results 
did nothing to advance the glory of Japan or 
its soldiers. The great soldier who planned it and 
pushed it on with relentless energy gained nothing 
from it except vexation. Much of the time during 
which the war lasted he sat in his temporary palace 
at Nagoya in Hizen, waiting eagerly for news from 
his armies. Instead of tidings of victories and 
triumphs and rich conquests, he was obliged too 
often to hear of the dissensions of his generals, the 
starving and miseries of his soldiers, and the curses 
and hatred of a ruined and unhappy country. All 
that he had to show for his expenditure of men and 
money were several sake tubs of pickled ears and 
noses with which to form a mound in the temple of 
Daibutsu, and the recollection of an investiture by 
the emperor of China, which could only bring to 
him pain and humiliation. 

The only beneficial results to Japan that can be 
traced to all this was the introduction into different 
provinces of some of the skilled artisans of Korea. 
The prince of Satsuma, Shimazu Yoshihiro, in 

^ See Dening's Life of Toyotomi Hideyoshi^ p. 380. 



222 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

A.D. 1598, brought home with him when he re. 
turned from the Korean war seventeen famihes of 
Korean potters/ who were settled in his province. 
They have Hved there ever since, and in many ways 
still retain the marks of their nationality. It is to 
them that ^dX^MWid. faience owes its exquisite beauty 
and its world-wide reputation. 

When the Taiko realized that his recovery was 
impossible he tried to arrange the affairs of the em- 
pire in such a way as to secure a continuation of the 
power in his son Hideyori, who was at that time 
only five years old. For this purpose he appointed 
a council consisting of Tokugawa leyasu, Maeda 
Toshi-ie, Mori Terumoto, Ukita Hide-ei and Uesugi 
Kagekatsu, of which leyasu was the president and 
chief. These were to constitute a regency during 
his son's minority. He also appointed a board of 
associates, who were called middle councillors, and 
a board of military officers called bugyo. He called 
all these councillors and military officers into his 
presence before he died, and made them swear 
allegiance to his successor Hideyori. There seems 
to have been among them a suspicion of the fidelity 
of leyasu, for the Taiko is represented as saying to 
two of his friends : " You need not be anxious 
about leyasu. He will not rebel against my house.'' 
Cultivate friendship with him." Thus in his sixty- 
second year died (September, 1598) the greatest 

* See Mr. Satow's paper entitled "The Korean Potters in Sat- 
suma," v^j/a/'eV Society Transactions^ vol. vi., p. 193 ; also as referred 
to in Mr. Satow's paper, Mr. Ninagawa's Notice Historique et De- 
scriptive sur les Arts et Industries Japonais, part v., Tokyo, 1877. 

'^ " In point of fact, however, making Ongoschio (leyasu) regent was 
placing a goat in charge of a kitchen garden," — Warenius, p. 20. 



TO YO TO MI HIDEYOSHT 



223 



soldier, if not the greatest man, whom Japan has 
produced. That he rose from obscurity solely by 
his own talents, is a more conspicuous merit in 




Japan than in most other countries. Family and 
heredity have always counted for so much in this 
land of the gods, that few instances have occurred 
in which men of humble birth have risen to emi- 
nence. That one such in spite of his low birth, in 
spite of personal infirmities, in spite of the opposi- 
tion and envy of contemporaries, had risen to so 
high a position in the empire, has been a source of 



224 ^-^^ STORY OF JAPAN, 

pride and encouragement to thousands of his coun- 
trymen. 

The Taiko was buried close to the Daibutsu 
temple, which he himself had built to shelter the 
colossal figure of Buddha, constructed in imitation 
of the Daibutsu which Yoritomo had built at Ka- 
makura. The figure was to be one hundred and 
sixty feet in height, and the workmen had it nearly 
finished when a terrible earthquake in A.D. 1596 
shook down the building. In the following year the 
temple was rebuilt, and the image was completed 
up to the neck. The workmen were preparing to 
cast the head, when a fire broke out in the scaffold- 
ing and again destroyed the temple, and also the 
image. It was one of the schemes of leyasu, so it 
is said, to induce the young Hideyori to exhaust his 
resources upon such expensive projects, and thus 
render him incapable of resisting any serious move- 
ment against himself. He therefore suggested to 
the boy and his mother that this temple and image, 
which Hideyoshi had begun, should not fail of erec- 
tion. They therefore resumed the construction, 
and carried it on with great lavishness. It took 
until A.D. 1614 to complete the work, and when it 
was about to be consecrated with imposing ceremo- 
nies, leyasu, who by this time was supreme in the 
empire, suddenly forbade the progress of the cere- 
mony. He affected to be offended by the inscrip- 
tion which had been put on the bell,' but the real 
reason was probably his desire to find some pretext 
by which he could put a quarrel upon the adherents 
of Hideyori. 

^ See Satow and Hawes' Handbook, p. 368. 




CHAPTER X. 

THE FOUNDING OF THE TOKUGAWA SHOGUNATE. 

Among all the friends and retainers of Hideyoshi 
the most prominent and able was Tokugawa leyasu. 
He was six years younger than Hideyoshi, and 
therefore in A.D. 1598, when the Taiko died, he was 
fifty-six years old. He was born at the village of 
Matsudaira in the province of Mikawa A.D. 1542. 
His family counted its descent from Minamoto 
Yoshi-ie, who in the eleventh century had by his 
military prowess in the wars against the Ainos 
earned the heroic name of Hachiman-Taro. There- 
fore he was, as custom and tradition now for a long 
time had required for those holding the office bf 
shogun, a descendant from the Minamoto family.' 
The name Tokugawa, which leyasu rendered famous, 
was derived from a village in the province of 
Shimotsuke, where his ancestors had lived. His first 
experiences in war were under Nobunaga, side by 
side with Hideyoshi. He proved himself not only a 
capable soldier, prudent and painstaking, but also a 
good administrator in times of peace. Hideyoshi 

' See the pedigree of leyasu as given in Mittheilungen der Deui- 
schen Gesellschaft^ etc., Heft i., p. 19. 
15 325 



226 ^ THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

had such confidence in him, and so much doubt 
about the wisdom of requiring the guardians to wait 
until his son, a mere child five years old, had grown 
up to years of responsibility, that he is represented' 
as having said to leyasu : "I foresee that there will 
be great wars after my decease ; I know too that 
there is no one but you who can keep the country 
quiet. I therefore bequeath the whole country to 
you, and trust you will expend all your strength in 
governing it. My son Hideyori is still young. I 
beg you will look after him. When he is grown up, 
I leave it to you to decide whether he will be my 
successor or not." ^ 

As soon as the Taiko was dead, and the attempt 
was made to set in motion the machinery he had 
designed for governing the country, troubles began 
to manifest themselves. The princes whom he had 
appointed as members of his governing boards, be- 
gan immediately to quarrel among themselves. On 
leyasu devolved the duty of regulating the affairs of 
the government. For this purpose he resided at 
Fushimi, which is a suburb of Kyoto. His most 
active opponent was Ishida Mitsunari, who had been 
appointed one of the five bugyo, or governors, under 
the Taiko's arrangement. They grew jealous of 
leyasu, because, under the existing order of things, 
the governors were of very minor importance. 
Mitsunari had acquired his influence with the Taiko^ 
not through military achievements, but by intrigue 
and flattery. He was cordially detested by such 
disinterested friends as Kato Kiyomasa and others. 
' See Dening's Life of Toyoiomi Hideyoski, p. 377, 



THE TOKUGAWA SHOGUNATE, 22/ 

The ground on which the opposition to leyasu was 
based was that he was not faithfully performing his 
duty, as he had promised to the dying Taiko, towards 
his child and heir. It is not improbable that even 
at this early day it was seen that leyasu proposed 
to disregard the pretensions of the youthful son of 
Hideyoshi, in the same way that he in his day had 
disregarded the claims of the heir of Nobunaga. 
The rough and warlike times, and the restless and 
ambitious manners of the feudal lords of these 
times, made it impossible to entrust the country to 
the hands of a child. 

Under this strained relation, the members of the 
regency divided into two parties. Speaking broadly, 
it was again a contest between the north and the 
south of Japan. leyasu's association had been from 
the beginning with the Kwanto, and now more than 
ever his power was centred about Yedo. Mitsunari 
on the contrary had leagued himself with the princes 
of Chosu and Satsuma, and with others of minor 
importance, all more or less representative of the 
southern half of the empire. The Christians chiefly 
sided with Hideyori and his adherents. Mitsunari 
himself was a Christian convert, and the Jesuit 
fathers explain that his position and that of the 
other Christian leaders were due to their conscien- 
tious desire to fulfil their oath of fidelity to Hideyori. 
That leyasu should have been derelict in such a 
solemn duty was a sufficient cause for their opposi- 
tion to him. 

Events now rushed rapidly to a culmination. One 
of the most powerful of the princes allied against 



228 THE SrORY OF JAPAN. 

leyasu was Uesugi Kagekatsu, the lord of Echigo 
and Aizu. He had retired to Aizu after having 
solemnly made a covenant ' with the others engaged 
in the plot to take measures against leyasu. He 
was summoned to Kyoto to pay his respects to the 
emperor, but on some trivial excuse he declined to 
come. leyasu now saw that nothing but war would 
settle the disputes which had arisen. He repaired 
to Yedo and to Shimotsuke, and made preparations 
for the conflict which he saw impending. 

In the meantime the members of the league were 
busy. Mitsunari sent an urgent circular to all the 
feudal prin'ces, charging leyasu with certain mis- 
deeds and crimes, the chief of which was that instead 
of guarding the inheritance of the Taiko for his 
son, he was with the blackest guilt endeavoring to 
seize it for himself. A formidable army was gath- 
ered at Osaka consisting of 128,000 men.^ Made up 
as it was from different provinces and officered by 
its provincial leaders, it lacked that element of unity 
and accord which is so essential to an army. The 
first movement was against the castle of Fushimi, 
which was the centre from which leyasu governed 
the country. After a short siege it fell and then, it 
is said, was accidentally burned to the ground. 

The news of the attack upon Fushimi was brought 
to leyasu in Shimotsuke, and a council of his friends 
and retainers was held to determine what steps must 

^ This covenant is said to have been signed with blood in accord- 
ance with a custom still occasionally prevalent, in which a drop of 
blood is drawn from the middle finger and sealed by pressing it with 
the thumb nail. Rein's Japan, p. 297, note. 

^ See Dening's Life of Toyoto?ni Hideyoshi, p. 397. 



THE rOKUGAWA SHOGUNATE. 229 

be taken to meet the emergency. It was urged that 
the time had come when leyasu should meet his 
enemies, and settle by battle the questions which 
had risen between them. It was determined that 
all the scattered troops should be gathered together, 
and that they should march to Fushimi prepared to 
encounter the enemy in battle at whatever point 
they should meet them. The eldest son of leyasu, 
Hideyasu, was put in charge of Yedo and entrusted 
with the care of the surrounding provinces. This 
was an important trust, because the powerful prince 
Uesugi lay to the north of him and would seize the 
first opportunity to attack him. To Fukushima was 
given the command of the vanguard. The principal 
army was divided into two parts, one of which was 
to march along the Tokaido under the command of 
leyasu himself, the other was placed under the 
charge of leyasu's second son Hidetada, and was to 
take the route along the Nakasendo; The whole 
army consisted of 75,000 men, a number much 
smaller than the army of the league, but which had 
the advantage of being controlled by one mastering 
and experienced commander. 

The armies met at Sekigahara,' a little village on 
the Nakasendo, October, A.D. 1600. One place on 
the neighboring hill is still pointed out whence 
leyasu witnessed the battle and issued his orders. 
Both sides fought with determined bravery, and the 
battle lasted the whole day. Cannon and other 

' This place receives its name from a barrier that was erected in 
the ninth century to control the travel towards the capital. Its mean- 
ing is, " Plain of the Barrier." See Chamberlain's Handbook^ 
p. 268. 



230 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

firearms were to some extent made use of, but the 
old-fashioned weapons, the sword and the spear, 
were the terrible means by which the victory was 
decided. For a long time the battle raged without 
either party obtaining a decisive advantage. Not- 
withstanding his inferiority in numbers leyasu was 
completely victorious. The carnage was dreadful. 
The number of the confederate army said to have 
been killed was 40,000.' This seems like an impos- 
sible exaggeration, and the Japanese annalists are, 
like those of other nations, given to heightened 
statements. But that the loss of life on both sides 
was very great there can be no doubt. 

Two ghastly mounds called Kubi-zuka, or head 
piles, are still shown where the heads of the decapi- 
tated confederates were buried. This battle must 
always stand with that at Dan-no-ura between the 
Minamoto and Taira families, as one of the decisive 
battles in the. history of Japan. By it was settled 
the fate of the country for two hundred and fifty 
years. 

It was fortunate that the victor in this battle was 
a man who knew how to secure the advantages to be 
derived from a victory. It is said that at the close 
of this battle when he saw success perching on his 
banners, he repeated to those around him the old 
Japanese proverb : '' After victory tighten the strings 
of your helmet." "* The division of Hidetada joined 

^ See Dening's Life of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, p. 399. 

^ This proverb is quoted as having been used by Hideyoshi w^hen 
remonstrating vi^ith Nobunaga about following up his victory over 
Imagavv^a Yoshimoto. See Dening's Life of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, 
p. 156. 



THE TOKUGAWA SHOGUNATE. 23 1 

him after the battle, and he promptly followed up 
his victory by seizing the castles on his way and tak- 
ing possession of Kyoto and Osaka. The feudal 
princes who had stood aloof or opposed him nearly 
all came forward and submitted themselves to his 
authority. Uesugi and Satake in the north, who 
had been among his most active opponents, at once 
presented themselves to Hideyasu at Yedo and 
made their submission. Mori, the powerful lord of 
the western provinces, who had been most active in 
the confederation against him, sent congratulations 
on his victory, but they were coldly received. Fi- 
nally he was pardoned, being however deprived of 
six out of his eight provinces. He was suffered to 
retain of all his rich inheritance only Suo and 
Nagato. Several of the leaders were captured, 
among whom were Mitsunari, Konishi, and Otani, 
who being Christians deemed it unworthy their faith 
to commit hara-kiri. They were carried to Kyoto 
where they were beheaded and their heads exposed 
in the dry bed of the Kamo-gawa. 

The work of reducing to order the island of 
Kyushu was entrusted to the veteran generals Kato 
Kiyomasa and Kuroda Yoshitaka. The former 
undertook the reduction of Hizen, and the latter 
that of Bungo, Buzen, and Chikuzen. The house of 
Shimazu, although it had taken sides against leyasu 
in the great contest, duly made its submission and 
was treated with great consideration. The whole of 
the territory assigned to it by Hideyoshi after the 
war of A.D. 1586 was restored to it, namely, the 
whole of the provinces of Satsuma and Osumi, and 



232 THE STOR V OF JAPAN. 

one half of the province of Hyuga. To Kato 
Kiyomasa ' was given the province Of Higo, which 
had, after the Korean war, been assigned to Konishi 
in recognition of his services, but which was now 
taken from his family because he had been one of 
leyasu's active opponents. The Kuroda family re- 
ceived as its inheritance a portion of the province of 
Chikuzen with its capital at Fukuoka, which it held 
until the abohtion of feudal tenures in 1871. 

leyasu was a peaceful and moderate character, 
and in the settlement of the disturbances which had 
marked his advent to power, he is notable for having 
pursued a course of great kindness and consideration. 
With the exception of the cases already mentioned 
there were no executions for political offences. It 
was his desire and ambition to establish a system of 
government which should be continuous and not 
liable, like those of Nobunaga and Taiko Sama, 
to be overturned at the death of him who had 
founded it. By the gift of Taiko Sama he had 

' Kiyomasa was a bitter enemy of the Christians, owing no doubt 
to the rivalry and antagonism which had sprung up with Konishi, who 
was a Christian, in the Korean war. He is termed Toronosqui by 
the Jesuit fathers from a personal name Toronosuke which he bore in 
his youth, and he is characterized as " vir ter execrandus,*' on account 
of his persecution of the Christians in his province. Perhaps on ac- 
count of this fierce opposition he was greatly admired by the Buddh- 
ists, and is worshipped under the name of Seishokd by the Nichiren 
sect at a shrine in the temple of Hommonji at Ikegami. Another 
monument to his memory is the Castle of Kumamoto, which he built 
and which still stands as one of the best existing specimens of the 
feudal castles of Japan. As an evidence of its substantial character, 
in A.D. 1877, under the command of General Tani, it withstood the 
siege of the Satsuma rebels and gave the government time to bring 
troops to crush the rebellion. 



THE TOKUGAWA SHOGUNATE. 233 

already in his possession a large part of the Kwanto. 
And by the result of the war which had ended at 
Sekigahara, he had come into possession of a great 
number of other fiefs, with which he could reward 
those who had been faithful to him. It was the dif- 
ficult and delicate part of his work to distribute 
judiciously among his supporters and retainers the 
confiscated estates. To realize how completely the 
feudal system as reformed by leyasu was bound to 
him and constituted to support and perpetuate his 
family, it is only necessary to examine such a list of 
the daimyos ' as is given in Appert's Ancien Japon.^ 
Out of the two hundred and sixty-three daimyos 
there enumerated, one hundred and fifty-eight are 
either vassals or branches of the Tokugawa family. 
But while he thus carefully provided the supports 
for his own family, he spared many of the old and 
well-rooted houses, which had incorporated them- 
selves into the history of the country. He built his 
structure on the old and tried foundation stones. 
With far-sighted statesmanship he recognized that 
every new form of government, to be permanent, 
must be a development from that which precedes it, 
and must include within itself whatever is lasting in 
the nature of its forerunner. 

The dual form of government had for many cen- 
turies existed in Japan, and the customs and habits 
of thinking, and the modes of administering justice 
and of controlling the conduct of men had become 
adapted to this system. It was therefore natural 

^ The plural of this word is here and elsewhere used in its English 
form, although no such plural is found in Japanese. 
^Ancien Japon, par G. Appert, Tdkyd, 1888, vol. ii. 



234 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

that leyasu should turn his attention to reforming 
and perfecting such a form of government. A 
scheme of this kind seemed best adapted to a coun- 
try in which there existed on the one hand an 
emperor of divine origin, honored of all men, but 
who by long neglect had become unfit to govern, 
and in whom was lodged only the source of honor; 
and on the other hand an executive department on 
which devolved the practical duty of governing, 
organizing, maintaining, and defending. Though he 
was compelled to look back through centuries of 
misrule, and through long periods of war and usur- 
pationy he could see straight to Yoritomo, the first 
of the shoguns, and could trace from him a clear 
descent in the Minamoto family. To this task, 
therefore, he set himself : to maintain the empire in 
all its heaven-descended purity and to create a line 
of hereditary shoguns who should constitute its 
executive department. 

In pursuance of this plan, he sent his son Hidetada 
to the emperor to make a full report of everything 
that had been done in the settlement of the affairs 
of the country. The emperor was graciously pleased 
to approve his acts and to bestow upon him*, A.D. 
1603, the hereditary title of Sei-i-tai-shogun. This 
was the title borne by Yoritomo when he was the 
real ruler of the country. Since that time there 
had been a long line of shoguns, the last of whom 
was Ashikaga Yoshiaki, whom Nobunaga deposed 
in 1573, and who had died 1597. With this new 
appointment began a line of Tokugawa shoguns 
that ended only with the restoration in 1868. 



THE TOKUGAWA SHOGUNATE. 235 

leyasu's most radical change in the system of 
government consisted in the establishment of the 
seat of his executive department at Yedo. Since 
A.D. 794 Kyoto had been the capital where successive 
emperors had reigned, and where Nobunaga and 
Hideyoshi exercised executive control. Kamakura 
had been the seat of Yoritomo and his successors. 
But leyasu saw advantages in establishing himself 
in a new field, to which the traditions of idleness 
and effeminacy had not attached themselves, and 
where the associations of his own warlike career 
would act as a stimulus to his contemporaries and 
successors. He remained at Fushimi until necessary 
repairs could be made to the Castle of Yedo ^ and 
the roads between it and the capital put in order. 
The place which henceforth was to be the principal 
capital of the country first comes into notice, as we 
have before mentioned, as a castle built by Ota Dok- 
wan in A.D. 1456. He had been placed here by the 
authorities of Kamakura to watch the movements of 
the restless princes of the north. Recognizing the 
strength and convenience of the high grounds on 
the border of Yedo bay, he built a castle which, 
through many transformations and enlargements, 
finally developed into the great feudal capital of the 
Tokugawa shoguns. It was here that leyasu, after 
the fall of Odawara, by the advice of Hideyoshi,^ 
established himself for the government of the prov- 
inces of the Kwanto which had been given to him. 

^ A full account of the Castle of Yedo will be found in a paper by 
Mr. J. R. H. McClatchie in the Asiatic Society Transactions, vol. 
vi., part I, p. 119. 

* See p. 207. 



236 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

And it was without doubt this earUer experience 
which led him to select Yedo as the centre of 
his feudal government. The reputation which this 
eastern region bore for roughness and want of cul- 
ture, as compared with the capital of the emperor at 
Kyoto, seemed to him an advantage rather than an 
objection. He could here build up a system of 
government free from the faults and weaknesses 
which had become inseparable from the old seats of 
power. After the repairs and enlargements had 
been completed he took up his residence there. 
Besides this castle, leyasu had for his private resi- 
dence, especially after his retirement from the 
shogunate, an establishment at Sumpu, now called 
Shizuoka. Here he was visited by English and 
Dutch envoys in reference to the terms of allowing 
trade, and here, after the manner of his country, he 
maintained his hold upon the administration of 
affairs, notwithstanding his formal retirement. 

A continued source of disquietude and danger to 
the empire, or at least to the plans of leyasu for a 
dynasty of Tokugawa shoguns, lay in Hideyori, the 
son and heir of Taiko Sama. He was born in 1592, 
and was therefore at this time, 1614, in his twenty- 
third year. As long as he lived he would be natu- 
rally and inevitably the centre to which all the 
disaffected elements of the country would gravitate. 
The failure of leyasu to support the cause of his 
old master's son would always prove a source of 
weakness to him, especially in a country where 
fidelity to parents and superiors was held in such 
high esteem. He determined, therefore, to bring to 



THE TOKUGAWA SHOGUNATE. 237 

a conclusion these threatening troubles which had so 
long been hanging over him. Accordingly, on the 
ground that Hideyori was plotting with his enemies 
against the peace of the state, he set out from 
Sumpu, where he was then residing as retired 
shogun, with an army of seventy thousand men. 
Hideyori and his mother had for a long time resided 
at the castle of Osaka, and against this leyasu 
directed his large army. It was bravely and skil- 
fully defended, and without the help of artillery, 
which at this early day w"as rarely used in sieges, a 
long time elapsed before any decided advantage was 
gained. At last the defenders were tempted beyond 
the protection of their fortifications, and a battle 
was fought June 3, 161 5. It is described by the 
Jesuit fathers, two of whom witnessed it, as being 
sanguinary beyond the example of the bloody 
battles of the Japanese civil wars. It resulted in 
the complete overthrow of Hideyori's adherents, 
and the destruction of the castle by fire. Both 
Hideyori and his mother were said to have perished 
in the conflagration. Reports were current that 
they had, however, escaped and taken refuge in 
some friendly locality. But no trace of them was 
ever found, and it was taken for granted that this 
was the end of Hideyori and his party. 

Before ending this chapter, which is designed to 
record the establishment of the Tokugawa shoguns, 
reference should be made to the settlement of the 
questions left in dispute by Taiko Sama respecting 
Korea. There remained after the war, with all its 
attendant atrocities and sufferings, a feeling of in- 



■Z2,S rUE STORY OF JAPAN, 

tense bitterness towards the Japanese on the part 
both of the Koreans and Chinese. The absence of 
any sufficient cause for the invasion, and the avowed 
purpose of Taiko Sama to extend his conquests to 
China had awakened against him and his armies a 
hatred which generations could not wipe out. Soon 
after the recall of the Japanese troops which fol- 
lowed the death of Taiko Sama, leyasu opened 
negotiations with Korea through the daimyo of 
Tsushima. He caused the government to be in- 
formed that any friendly overtures on its part would 
be received in a like spirit. The king of Korea 
accordingly despatched an embassy with an auto- 
graph letter, addressed to the " king of Japan." A 
translation of this letter will be found in Mr. Aston's 
last paper ^ on Hideyoshi's invasion of Korea. 
Among other things it says : " The sovereign and 
subjects of this country were profoundly grieved, 
and felt that they could not live under the same 
heaven with your country. . . . However your 
country has now reformed the errors of the past 
dynasty and practises the former friendly relations. 
If this be so, is it not a blessing to the people of 
both countries? We have therefore sent you the 
present embassy in token of friendship. The en- 
closed paper contains a list of some poor produc- 
tions of our country. Be pleased to understand 
this." This letter was dated in the year 1607. A 
friendly answer was returned to it, and from this 
time it may be understood that the relations be- 
tween the two countries were placed on a satisfac- 

^ Asiatic Society Transactions, vol. xi., p. 124. 



THE TOKUGAWA SHOGUNATE, 239 

tory basis. These steps were taken on the part of 
Korea with the knowledge and approval of China, 
which now claimed to hold a protectorate over the 
peninsula of Korea. The same negotiations there- 
fore which resulted in peaceful relations with Korea 
brought about a condition of amity with China 
which was not disturbed until very recent times. 

The ruinous effects of this invasion, however, 
were never overcome in Korea itself. Her cities 
had been destroyed, her industries blotted out, and 
her fertile fields rendered desolate. Once she had 
been the fruitful tree from which Japan was glad to 
gather her arts and civilization, but now she was 
only a branchless trunk which the fires of war had 
charred and left standing. 




TOKUGAWA CREST. 




CHAPTER XL 

CHRISTIANITY IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 

To the readers of the story of Japan the most 
interesting episode is that of the introduction and 
subsequent extirpation of Christianity. We have 
therefore given an account of the first arrival of the 
Jesuit missionaries with the sainted Xavier at their 
head, and we have seen their labors crowned with a 
very wide success. During the times of Nobunaga 
and Hideyoshi the question had assumed something 
of a political aspect. In several of the provinces of 
Kyushu the princes had become converts and had 
freely used their influence, and sometimes their 
authority, to extend Christianity among their sub- 
jects. In Kyoto and Yamaguchi, in Osaka and 
Sakai, as well as in Kyushu, the Jesuit fathers had 
founded flourishing churches and exerted a wide 
influence. They had estabHshed colleges where the 
candidates for the church could be educated and 
trained. They had organized hospitals and asylums 
at Nagasaki and elsewhere, where those needing aid 
could be received and treated. 

It is true that the progress of the work had met 
240 



CHRISTIANITY IN THE I^TH CENTURY. 24 1 

with a severe setback in A.D. 1587, when Taiko 
Sama issued an edict expeUing all foreign religious 
teachers from Japan. In pursuance of this edict 
nine foreigners who had evaded expulsion were 
burnt at Nagasaki. The reason for this decisive 
action on the part of Taiko Sama is usually attrib- 
uted to the suspicion which had been awakened in 
him by the loose and unguarded talk of a Portuguese 
sea captain.' But other causes undoubtedly con- 
tributed to produce in him this intolerant frame of 
mind. Indeed, the idea of toleration as applied to 
religious belief had not yet been admitted even in 
Europe. At this very time Philip II., who had 
united in his own person the kingdoms of Spain and 
Portugal, was endeavoring to compel, by force of 
arms, the Netherlands to accept his religious belief, 
and was engaged throughout all his immense domin- 
ions in the task of reducing men's minds to a hideous 
uniformity. 

Even in several of the provinces of Japan where 
the Jesuits had attained the ascendancy, the most 
forcible measures had been taken by the Christian 
princes to compel all their subjects to follow their 
own example and adopt the Christian faith. Take- 
yama, whom the Jesuit fathers designate as Justo 
Ucondono, carried out in his territory at Akashi a 
system of bitter persecution. He gave his subjects 
the option of becoming Christians or leaving his 
teritory. Konishi Yukinaga, who received part of 
the province of Higo as his fief after the Korean 
war, enforced with great persistency the acceptance 
^ See p. 204. 



242 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

of the Christian faith, and robbed the Buddhist 
priests of their temples and their lands. The princes 
of Omura and Arima, and to a certain extent the 
princes of Bungo, followed the advice of the Jesuit 
fathers in using their authority to advance the cause 
of Christianity. The fathers could scarcely complain 
of having the system of intolerance practised upon 
them, which, when circumstances were favorable, 
they had advised to be applied to their opponents. 
It was this impossibility of securing peace and har- 
mony, and the suspicion of the territorial ambition 
of Spain and Portugal, which drove Taiko Sam.a to 
the conclusion that the foreign religious teachers 
and the faith which they had so successfully propa- 
gated, were a source of imminent danger to his 
country. To him it was purely a political question. 
He had no deep religious impressions which had led 
him to prefer the precepts of the old Japanese faith 
to those of Christianity. These systems could not 
apparently live together, and it seemed to him the 
safest and most sensible way to extinguish the 
weaker and most dangerous before it became too 
strong. Hence he began that policy of repression 
and expulsion which his successor reluctantly took up. 
During the first years of leyasu's supremacy the 
Christians were not disturbed. He was too much 
occupied with the establishment of the new execu- 
tive department which he had planned. In 1606 
the Portuguese resident bishop. Father Louis Cer- 
queria, was received by leyasu at Kyoto. The fathers 
speak of this audience with great hopefulness, and 



CHRISTIANITY IN THE I^TH CENTURY. 243 

did not seem to be aware that the court which most 
of the Christian princes were at that time paying to 
Hideyori was Hkely to prejudice leyasu against 
them. Again in 1607 leyasu, who was then at Kofu 
in the province of Kai awaiting the completion of 
his castle at Yedo, expressed a desire to see the 
Provincial. Accordingly w^hen he waited on leyasu 
he was received very cordially. The Christian fathers 
were much encouraged by these indications of the 
favor of leyasu. But whatever they may have been, 
they cannot be interpreted as showing any intention 
on his part to promote their religious proselytism. 
Even in the very midst of these assumed favors he 
issued in 1606 what may be called a warning proc- 
lamation,' announcing that he had learned with pain 
that, contrary to Taiko Sama's edict, many had 
embraced the Christian religion. He warned all 
officers of his court to see that the edict was strictly 
enforced. He declared that it was for the good of 
the state that none should embrace the new doc- 
trine ; and that such as had already done so must 
change immediately. 

This proclamation of leyasu did not, however, 
prevent the Catholics at Nagasaki from celebrating 
in a gorgeous manner the beatification^ of Ignatius 
Loyola, the founder and first General of the Society 
of Jesus. The bishop officiated in pontifical robes, 
and the members of the society, together with the 
Franciscans, Dominicans, and Augustinians, made a 

'See Dickson's Japan, p. 227. 

■^ His beatification was decreed by the pope in 1609, and his canoni- 
zation in 1622. 



244 ^-^^ STORY OF JAPAN, 

solemn procession through the city. This celebra- 
tion was in distinct contravention of the orders 
which had been issued against such pubHc displays. 
It was made more emphatic by being also held on 
the same day in the province of Arima, whose 
daimyo was an ardent advocate of the Christian 
doctrine. These open and determined infractions 
of the directions of the government provoked leyasu 
to take severe measures. He began by punishing 
some of the native Christians connected with his 
own court, who were charged with bribery and 
intrigue in behalf of the daimyo of Arima. A 
number of these accused Christians were banished 
and their estates confiscated. 

In the meantime both the English and Dutch 
had appeared on the scene, as will be more fully 
detailed in the next chapter. Their object was 
solely trade, and as the Portuguese mofiopoly 
hitherto had been mainly secured by the Jesuit 
fathers, it was natural for the new-comers to repre- 
sent the motive of these fathers in an unfavorable 
and suspicious light. *' Indeed," as Hildreth ^ says, 
'' they had only to confirm the truth of what the 
Portuguese and Spanish said of each other to excite 
in the minds of the Japanese rulers the gravest dis- 
trust as to the designs of the priests of both nations." ^ 

' Hildreth's Japan, etc., p, 176. 

^ The Jesuit historians relate with malicious satisfaction how one 
of the Spanish friars, in a dispute with one of Adams' shipwrecked 
company, to sustain the authority of the church appealed to the 
miraculous power which its priests still possessed. And when the 
Hollander challenged an exhibition of such power, the missionary 
undertook to walk on the surface of the sea. A day was appointed 



CHRISTIANITY IN THE IJTH CENTURY. 245 

Whether it is true as charged that the minds of the 
Japanese rulers had been poisoned against the 
Jesuit fathers by misrepresentation and falsehood, 
it may be impossible to determine definitely ; but 
it is fair to infer that the cruel and intolerant policy 
of the Spanish and Portuguese would be fully set 
forth and the danger to the Japanese empire from 
the machinations of the foreign religious teachers 
held up in the worst light. 

During the latter years of leyasu's life, after he 
had settled the affairs of the empire and put the 
shogunate upon a permanent basis, we see growing 
evidence of his prejudice against Christianity. That 
he had such prejudice in a very pronounced form is 
clear from his reference to the "false and corrupt 
school" in chapter xxxi. of the Legacy. And he 
had inherited from Taiko Sama the conviction that the 
spread of this foreign faith was a menace to the peace 
of the empire. The instructions ' which were issued 

The Spaniard prepared himself by confession, prayer, and fasting. 
A great crowd of the Japanese assembled to see the miracle, and the 
friar, after a confident exhortation' to the multitude, stepped, crucifix 
in hand, into the water. But he was soon floundering over his head, 
and was only saved from drowning by some boats sent to his assist- 
ance. — Hildreth's Japan^ etc., p. 140. 

' " This will seem to you less strange, if you consider how the 
Apostle St. Paul commands us to obey even secular superiors and 
gentiles as Christ himself, from whom all well-ordered authority is 
derived : for thus he writes to the Ephesians (vii, 5) : 'be obedient to 
them that are your temporal lords according to the flesh, with fear 
and trembling in the simplicity of your heart, as to Christ ; not 
seeming to the eye, as it were pleasing men, but as the servants of 
Christ doing the will of God from the heart, with a good will seem- 
ing as to the Lord and not to men.' " 

The above is an extract from an Epistle of St. Ignatius, the 26th 



246 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

to the members of the Society of Jesus, however, 
forbade any father to meddle in secular affairs or to 
interfere in any way with the political concerns of 
the government in which they were laboring. That 
there were occasional instances of the disregard of 
this regulation by the enthusiastic members of the 
order may be supposed, but it will be unjust and 
unfounded to attribute to this society a settled 
policy of interference in the affairs of the nations 
where they were employed as missionaries. 

leyasu, evidently having made up his mind that 
for the safety of the empire Christianity must be 
extirpated, in 1614 issued an edict ^ that the mem- 
bers of all religious orders, whether European or 
Japanese, should be sent out of the country ; that 
the churches which had been erected in various 
localities should be pulled down, and that the native 
adherents of the faith should be compelled to re- 
nounce it. In part execution of this edict all the 
members of the Society of Jesus, native and foreign, 

of March, 1553, which is still regarded as authoritative and is read 
every month to each of the houses. It was supplied to me by Dr. 
Carl Meyer and verified by Rev. D. H. Buel, S. J. of St. Francis 
Xavier's College, New York City. Dr. Meyer has also pointed out 
that the Second General Congregation, 1565, severely forbids any 
Jesuit to act as confessor or theologian to a prince longer than one or 
two years, and gives the minutest instructions to prevent a priest 
from interfering in any way with political and secular affairs in such 
a position. 

^ This edict of leyasu is given by Mr. Satow in his contributions 
to the debate on Mr. Gubbins' Review of the Introduction of Christi- 
anity into China and Japan. Fifteen rules to guide the Buddhist 
priests in guaranteeing the orthodoxy of their parishioners are also 
given.— Asiatic Society Transactions, vol. vi., part i., p. 46. 



CHRISTIANITY IN THE IJTH CENTURY. 247 

were ordered to be sent to Nagasaki. Native 
Christians were sent to Tsugaru, the northern ex- 
tremity of the Main island. Takeyama, who had 
already been banished by Taiko Sama to the prov- 
ince of Kaga, was ordered to leave the country. He 
was sent in a Chinese ship to Manila, where he soon 
after died. In order to repress any disturbance that 
might arise from the execution of this edict, ten 
thousand troops were sent to Kyushu, where the 
converts were much the most numerous, and where 
the daimyos in many cases either openly protected 
or indirectly favored the new faith. 

In accordance with this edict, as many as three 
hundred persons are said to have been shipped from 
Japan October 25, 1614. All the resident Jesuits 
were included in this number, excepting eighteen 
fathers and nine brothers, who concealed themselves 
and thus escaped the search. Following this de- 
portation of converts the most persistent efforts 
continued to be made to force the native Christians 
to renounce their faith. The accounts given, both 
'by the foreign and by the Japanese writers, of the 
persecutions which now broke upon the heads of the 
Christians are beyond description horrible. A special 
service was estabhshed by the government which 
was called the Christian Enquiry,^ the object of 
which was to search out Christians in every quarter 
and drive them to a renunciation of their faith. 
Both the foreign priests who had remained in the 
country in spite of the edict and the native converts 

^ See Gubbins' paper, Asiatic Society Transactions, vol. vi., part 
i., p. 35. 



248 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

were hunted down and punished with the most 
appalHng tortures. Rewards were offered for in- 
formation involving Christians of every position and 
rank, even of parents against their children and of 
children against their parents. At what time this 
practice began it is difficult to say, but that rewards 
were used at an early period is evident from the 
re-issue of an edict in 1655, in which it is stated^ 
that formerly a reward of 200 pieces of silver was 
paid for denouncing a father {bateren) and 100 for 
denouncing a brother (iruman) ; but from this time 
the rewards should be : for denouncing a father, 
300 pieces ; a brother, 200 pieces ; and a catechist, 
50 pieces. In 171 1 this tariff was raised, for de- 
nouncing a father to 500 pieces, a brother to 300 
pieces, and a catechist to 100 pieces ; also for de- 
nouncing a person who, having recanted, returned 
to the faith, 300 pieces. These edicts against Chris- 
tianity were displayed on the edict-boards as late as 
the year 1868. 

The persecution began in its worst form about 
1616. This was the year in which leyasu died, but 
his son and successor carried out the terrible pro- 
gramme with heartless thoroughness. It has never 
been surpassed for cruelty and brutality on the part 
of the persecutors, or for courage- and constancy on 
the part of those who suffered. The letters of the 
Jesuit fathers are full of descriptions of the shocking 
trials to which the Christians were subjected. The 
tortures inflicted are almost beyond belief. Mr. 

* See Mr, Satow's contributions to the debate on Mr. Gubbins' 
paper, Asiatic Society Transactions, vol. vi., part i., p. 51. 



CHRISTIANITY IN THE lyTH CENTURY, 249 

Gubbins, in the paper ^ to which reference has already- 
been made, says : ^' We read of Christians being 
executed in a barbarous manner in sight of each 
other, of their being hurled from the tops of preci- 
pices, of their being buried alive, of their being torn 
asunder by oxen, of their being tied up in rice-bags, 
which were heaped up together, and of the pile thus 
formed being set on fire. Others were tortured 
before death by the insertion of sharp spikes under 
the nails of their hands and feet, while some poor 
wretches by a refinement of horrid cruelty were shut 
up in cages and there left to starve with food before 
their eyes. Let it not be supposed that we have 
drawn on the Jesuit accounts solely for this informa- 
tion. An examination of the Japanese records will 
show that the case is not overstated.'" 

The region around Nagasaki was most fully im- 
pregnated with the new doctrine, and it was here 
that the persecution was by far the most severe. 
This was now an imperial city, governed directly by 
officers from the government of Yedo. The gov- 

' Asiatic Society Transactions, vol. vi., part I, p. 35. 

^ See chapter xi. of a Description of the Kingdom of Japan and 
Siam, by Bernhard Warenius, M.D., Cambridge, Printing-House of 
John Hayes, Printer to the University, A.D. 1673. The volume is 
in Latin, which, as well as a translation of the same in manuscript, 
has been furnished to me by Mr. Benjamin Smith Lyman, of Phila- 
delphia. Warenius was a Lutheran, and need not be suspected of 
being prejudiced in favor of the Jesuits. See also History of the 
Martyrs of yapan, Prague, 1675, by Mathia Tanner, containing many 
engravings of the horrible scenes, such as burnings, crucifixions, and 
suspensions in the pit, etc. ; also Histoire des Vingt-six Martyrs du 
Japon, Crucif-e a Nagasaqtii le j Fe'vrier, ^S97, par D. Bouix, 
Paris, 1862. 



250 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

ernor is called Kanwaytsdo by Warenius, relying on 
Caron and Guysbert, but I have been unable to 
identify him by his true Japanese name. Beginning 
from 1 61 6 there was a continuous succession of per- 
secutions. In 1622 one hundred and thirty men, 
women, and children were put to death, among 
whom were two Spanish priests, and Spinola an 
Italian. The next year one hundred more were put 
to death. The heroism of these martyrs awakened 
the greatest enthusiasm among the Christians. In 
the darkness of the night following the execution 
many of them crept to the place where their friends 
had been burnt and tenderly plucked some charred 
fragments of their bodies, which they carried away 
and cherished as precious relics. To prevent the 
recurrence of such practices the ofHcers directed 
that the bodies of those burnt should be completely 
consumed and the ashes thrown into the sea. Guys- 
bert in his account mentions that among those exe- 
cuted at Hirado was a man who had been in the 
employ of the Dutch factory and his wife. They 
had two little boys whom the factor offered to take 
and have brought up by the Dutch. But the parents 
declined, saying that they preferred to have the boys 
die with them. A plan was devised by which the 
heads of households were required to certify that 
none of their families were Christians, and that no 
priests or converts were harbored by them. 

All this terrible exercise of power and the con- 
stantly recurring scenes of suffering were more than 
the governor could endure, and so we find him at 
'ast complaining that he could not sleep and that his 



CHRISTIANITY IN THE IJTH CENTURY. 25 1 

health was impaired. At his earnest petition he was 
relieved and a new governor appointed in 1626. He 
signalized his entrance upon his duties by condemn- 
ing thirteen Christians to be burnt, viz.: Bishop 
Franciscus Parquerus, a Portuguese, seventy years 
old ; Balthazar de Tores, a Dominican, fifty-seven 
years old, together with five Portuguese and five 
Japanese laymen. When it came to the crisis the 
five Portuguese renounced their faith and escaped 
death. On the twelfth of July nine more were exe- 
cuted, five by burning and four by beheading. On 
the twenty-ninth of July a priest was caught and 
executed who had concealed himself in a camp of 
lepers, and who had hoped in that way to escape 
detection. 

The governor exerted himself to bring about re- 
cantations on the part of those who had professed 
themselves Christians. He promised special favors 
to such as would renounce their faith, and in many 
cases went far beyond promises to secure the result. 
He set a day when all the apostates dressed in their 
best clothes should present themselves at his ofifice. 
Fifteen hundred appeared on this occasion, and were 
treated with the greatest kindness and consideration. 
But the of^cers began to see that putting Chris- 
tians to death would not prevent others from em- 
bracing the same doctrine. There grew up such an 
enthusiasm among the faithful that they sought 
rather than avoided the crown of martyrdom. As 
Guysbert points out, the knowledge of the Christian 
religion possessed by these converts must have been 
exceedingly small ; they knew the Lord's prayer 



252 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

and the Ave Maria, and a few other prayers of the 
Church, but they had not the Scriptures to read, 
and many of them could not have read them even 
if they had been translated into their own language. 
And yet these humble and ignorant people with- 
stood death, and tortures far worse than death, with 
a heroism worthy of all praise. 

On the eighth of February, 1627, twelve persons 
were captured in a hiding-place about a mile from 
Nagasaki ; they were first branded with a hot iron 
on the forehead, and then on each cheek ; then be- 
cause they would not recant they were burnt to 
death. Subsequently forty more were captured, 
among whom were a father and mother with their 
three young children. The children were frightened 
at the dreadful preparations, and would have re- 
canted, but their parents refused to permit them to 
take advantage of the offers of clemency. After 
the branding and beating, those who were not yet 
driven to recant were sent off to the boiling springs 
of Onsen in Arima. Here they were tortured by 
having the boiling water of the springs poured upon 
them, and by being compelled to breathe the suffo- 
cating sulphurous air which these springs emitted. 

On the fourteenth of the following May, nine 
martyrs suffered all the torments which could be 
contrived and finally were drowned. August seven- 
teenth five Christians were burnt and eighteen 
otherwise put to death, of whom one was a Fran- 
ciscan monk and the rest were natives. October 
twenty-sixth three Japanese magnates who had 
joined Hideyori against leyasu were discovered to 



CHRISTIANITY IN THE IJTH CENTURY, 253 

be Christians, and were shipped off to Macao. In 
the following year, 1628, it is said that three hun- 
dred and forty-eight persons were tortured for their 
faith, including torture by the boiling springs, beat- 
ing with clubs, and burning. It had been reduced 
to such a science that when they saw a subject 
becoming weak and likely to die, they suspended 
their torments until he revived. Whenever a priest 
was captured in any household the whole family by 
whom he had been concealed were put to death. 

Another new governor was sent to Nagasaki on 
the 27th of July, 1629. He came with the high 
purpose of rooting out every vestige of Christian- 
ity. He set about his work in the most system- 
atic manner. Nagasaki, it must be understood, is 
laid out in streets which can be closed up by gates. 
Each street had its head man, and every five houses 
in each street were under the special charge of a 
separate overseer. These overseers were responsible 
as to what occurred and who were concealed in each 
of the houses under his charge. The gates were 
all closed at night and opened again in the morning. 

The governor went through these streets house 
by house, and examined every person in every 
house. If the occupants were not Christians, or if 
they renounced their Christianity, they were al- 
lowed to go undisturbed ; but if any one persisted 
in the new doctrine he was sent off to be tortured 
by hot water at the boiling springs. This torture 
was now improved by requiring the victim to have 
his back slit open and the boiling water poured 
directly on the raw flesh. He used the most men- 



254 THE STORY OF JAPANS 

strous means to force the people to renounce their 
faith. He compelled naked women to go through 
the streets on their hands and knees, and many 
recanted rather than suffer such an ordeal. Other 
cases are recorded too horrible to be related, 
and which only the ingenuity of hell could have 
devised. That any should have persisted after such 
inhuman persecutions seems to be almost beyond 
belief. Guysbert says that in 1626 Nagasaki had 
forty thousand Christians, and in 1629 not one was 
left who acknowledged himself a believer. The 
governor was proud that he had virtually extermi- 
nated Christianity. 

But the extermination had not yet been attained. 
The severity of the measures adopted in Nagasaki 
had indeed driven many into the surrounding prov- 
inces, so that every place of shelter was full. They 
awaited in terror the time when they too should be 
summoned to torture and death. Usually they had 
not long to wait, for the service of the Christian 
Enquiry was active and diligent. New refinements 
of cruelty were constantly invented and applied. 
The last and one of the most effectual is denomi- 
nated by the foreign historians of these scenes the 
Torment of the Fosse. Mathia Tanner, S. J., in his 
History of the Martyrs of Japajt, published in Prague, 
1675, gives minute accounts of many martyrdoms. 
His descriptions are illustrated by sickening engrav- 
ings of the tortures inflicted. Among these he 
gives one illustrating the suspension of a martyr in 
a pit on the i6th of August, 1633. The victim is 
swathed in a covering which confines all parts of the 



CHRISTIANITY IN THE lyTH CENTURY. 255 

body except one hand with which he can make 
the signal of recantation. A post is planted by the 
side of the pit, with an arm projecting out over it. 
The martyr is then drawn up by a rope fastened to 
the feet and run over the arm of the post. He is 
then lowered into the pit to a depth of five or six 
feet and there suffered to hang. The suffering was 
excruciating. Blood exuded from the mouth and 
nose, and the sense of pressure on the brain was 
fearful Yet with all this suffering the victim usually 
lived eight or nine days. Few could endure this 
torture, and it proved a most effectual method of 
bringing about recantations. Guysbert says that 
he had many friendly conversations with those 
who had experienced the torture of the Fosse, 
They solemnly assured him "that neither the pain 
caused by burning with fire, nor that caused by any 
other kind of torture, deserves to be compared with 
the agony produced in this way." Not being able 
longer to endure the suffering, they had recanted 
and been set free. Yet it is told as a miraculous 
triumph of faith that a young girl was submitted to 
this torture, and lived fifteen days without recant- 
ing and at last died. 

It is surely not unnatural that human nature 
should succumb to such torments. Even the well 
seasoned nerves of the Jesuit fathers were not al- 
ways able to endure to the end. The enemies of 
the Jesuits delight in narrating the apostasy of Fa- 
ther Christopher Ferreyra, seventy years old, a Por- 
tuguese missionary and the provincial of the order. 
He was captured in Nagasaki, 1633, and was tortured 



256 THE. STOR Y OF JAPAN, 

by suspension in the Fosse, After five hours he gave 
the signal of recantation and was released. He was 
kept for some time in prison and compelled to give 
information concerning the members of his order in 
Japan. He was set at liberty and forced to marry, 
assuming the Japanese dress and a Japanese name. 
There was a report set on foot by the Jesuits that in 
his old age when on his death-bed he recovered his 
courage and declared himself a Christian, where- 
upon he was immediately carried off by the Japanese 
officers to the torture of the Fosse^ where he per- 
ished a penitent martyr. 

It was at this time that the method of trial called 
E-fumi^ or trampling on the cross, was instituted. 
At first pictures on paper were used, then slabs of 
wood were substituted as more durable, and finally 
in the year 1660 an engraver of Nagasaki, named 
Yusa, cast bronze plates from the metal obtained by 
despoiling the altars of the churches. These plates 
were about five inches long and four inches wide 
and one inch thick, and had on them a figure of 
Christ on the cross. We take from the French edi- 
tion of Kaempfer's History of Japan ^ an account of 
what he calls " this detestable solemnity." It was 
conducted by an officer called the kirishitan bugyo, 
or Christian inquisitor, and began on the second day 
of the first month. In Nagasaki it was commenced 

^ See Woolley's " Historical Notes on Nagasaki," Asiatic Society 
Transactions, vol. ix., part 2, p. 134 ; also Mr. Satow's contributions 
to the discussion of Mr. Gubbins' paper, Asiatic Society Transactions^ 
vol. vi., part 2., p. 52. Specimens of the metal plates are in the 
Uyeno Museum of Tokyo. 

^ See Kaempfer's Histoire de V Empire de Japon, tome i., p. 287, 



CHRISTIANITY IN THE IJTH CENTURY, 257 

at two different places at once, and was carried on 
from house to house until the whole city was fin- 
ished. The officers of each street were required to 
be present. The metal plate on which was a figure 
of the Saviour upon the cross was laid upon the 
floor. Then the head of the house, his family, and 
servants of both sexes, old and young, and any 
lodgers that might be in the house, were called into 
the room. The secretary of the inquisitor there- 
upon made a list of the household and called upon 
them one by one to set their feet on the plate. 
Even young children not able to walk were carried 
by their mothers and made to step on the images 
with their feet. Then the head of the family put 
his seal to the list as a certificate to be laid before 
the governor that the inquisition had been performed 
in his house. If any refused thus to trample on the 
cross they were at once turned over to the proper 
officers to be tortured as the cases required. 

This same method of trial was used in the prov- 
inces about Nagasaki, the governor lending to the 
officers the plate which they might use. 

Without following the entire series of events 
which resulted in the extirpation of Christianity, it 
will be sufficient to give a brief narrative of the 
closing act in this fearful tragedy. It is just, how- 
ever, to explain that the Shimabara rebellion was 
not due to the. Christians alone, but that other causes 
contributed to and perhaps originated it. In view, 
however, of the cruel persecutions to which the 
Christians were subjected, it is not surprising that 
they should have been driven to engage in such a 



258 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

rebellion as that in Arima/ The wonder rather is 
that they were not often and in many places impelled 
to take up arms against the inhumanities of their 
rulers. The explanation of this absence of resist- 
ance will be found in the scattered condition of the 
Christian communities. Nowhere, unless it might 
be in Nagasaki, was the number of converts col- 
lected in one place at all considerable. They were 
everywhere overawed by the organized power of the 
government, and the experience of those who joined 
in this Arima insurrection did not encourage a repe- 
tition of its horrors. 

The beginning of the revolt is traced to the mis- 
government of the daimyo of Arima. The original 
daimyo had been transferred by the shogun to 
another province, and when he removed from Arima 
he left nearly all his old retainers behind him. The 
newly instituted daimyo, on the contrary, who came 
to occupy the vacated province brought with him a 
full complement of his own followers. To make 
room for these new retainers the old ones were dis- 

^ In the narrative which we give of this insurrection vi^e have re- 
lied chiefly upon the accounts of Mr. Gubbins in his " Review of the 
Introduction of Christianity," Asiatic Society Transactions, vol. vi,, 
part I, p. 36 ; of Mr. Woolley in his " Historical Notes on Nagasaki," 
do., vol. ix., part 2, p. 140 ; and on Dr. Geerts' paper on the "Arima 
Rebellion and the Conduct of Koeckebacker, do., vol. xi., p. 51. Mr. 
Gubbins and Mr. Woolley had access to Japanese authorities, and we 
have in their papers been enabled to see this bloody episode for the 
first time from a Japanese standpoint. Dr. Geerts has rendered 
an invaluable service in giving us translations of letters written by 
Koeckebacker, the head of the Dutch factory during the events, 
which show us how this insurrection was regarded by the Dutch East 
India Company. 



CHRISTIANITY IN THE IJTH CENTURY, 259 

placed from their dwellings and holdings, and com- 
pelled to become farmers or to take up any other 
occupation which they could find. Like the samurai 
of other parts of Japan who had been unaccustomed 
to any calling except that of arms, these displaced 
retainers proved very unsuccessful farmers, and were 
of course very much dissatisfied with the new course 
of things. The daimyo was a cruel and inconsiderate 
man, who made small account of the hardships and 
complaints of the samurai farmers. The taxes were 
made heavier than they could pay, and when they 
failed to bring in the required amount of rice, he 
ordered them to be dressed in straw rain-coats which 
were tied around their neck and arms. Their hands 
were fastened behind their backs, and in this help- 
less condition the rain-coats were set on fire. Many 
were fatally burned, and some to escape the burning 
threw themselves into the water and were drowned. 

This senseless cruelty awakened an intense feeling 
of hatred against the daimyo. And when his son 
who succeeded him was disposed to continue the 
same tyrannical policy, the farmers rose in insurrec- 
tion against their lord. The peasants of the island 
of Amakusa, which lies directly opposite to the pro- 
vince of Arima, also joined in this rising, owing to 
their discontent against the daimyo of Karatsu. 

The Christians, who had so long groaned under the 
persecutions of their rulers, seized this opportunity 
to rise, and joined the farmers. They declared that 
the time had now come for them to avenge the 
innocent blood of Christians and priests who had 
perished throughout the empire. The rising of the 



26o THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

Christians began at the village of Oyei in Amakusa, 
October, 1637. The excitement was intense, and in 
a few days it is said that eight thousand three hun- 
dred men and one thousand women were assembled 
at this village. They chose as their chief Shiro 
Tokisada the son of the head man of the village of 
Hara, who proposed to march immediately upon 
Nagasaki and open negotiations with foreign nations, 
and if possible obtain from them the help of troops. 
He was an enthusiast and without experience in war. 
The leading spirit in the insurrection seems to have 
been a ronin ' named Ashizuka, who recommended 
that the insurgents should cross over to Shimabara. 
But Shiro and his enthusiastic followers resolved to 
attack the castle of Tomioka situated on the north- 
west coast of Amakusa. They were, however, unable 
to make any impression upon it, and were obliged 
to withdraw. Ashizuka and a few followers suc- 
ceeded in breaking into the castle of Shimabara and 
seizing the arms and ammunition and provisions 
which were stored there. The government rice 
stores were seized both on the mainland and on the 
island of Amakusa. All the insurgents, including 
men, women, and children, then gathered into a 
deserted castle at Hara, which was capable of hold- 
ing 40,000 to 50,000 persons. It was supposed to be 
impregnable, and was put in order and provisioned 
for a long siege. The number gathered here is 
estimated by the Japanese writers at 40,200, but 
this number without doubt is an exaggeration. 

' A rdnin was a retainer who had given up the service of his feudal 
master, and for the time being was his own master. 



CHRISTIANITY IN THE IJTH CENTURY. 26 1 

The local rulers finding themselves unable to cope 
with the rebellion, and seeing its proportions swell- 
ing every day, appealed to Yedo for help. The 
shogun at this time was lemitsu, the son of the 
preceding shogun, and grandson of leyasu. He pos- 
sessed many of the good qualities of his grandfather, 
and is looked upon, with the exception of leyasu, as 
the greatest of the Tokugawa line. He had imbibed 
all the prejudices of his predecessors against for- 
eigners and against the religion of the foreigners. 
He feared that this rebellion was begun at their 
instigation, and would be carried on with their en- 
couragement and help. He prepared therefore for a 
sharp and desperate struggle, which he was deter- 
mined should be carried out to the bitter end. 

Itakura Naizen was sent down as commander-in- 
chief, and given full powers. Under his direction 
the siege of the castle, in which the rebels were 
gathered, was commenced on the 31st of Decem- 
ber, 1637. The daimyos of Kyushu, on the de- 
mand of the government, sent additional troops, 
so that the besieging army amounted to 160,000 
men. Yet with all this force, urged on by an ambi- 
tion to end this rebellion, no serious effect had yet 
been produced on the castle. The attacks which 
had been made had produced no breach in its walls. 
We have no information concerning the progress of 
affairs among the inmates. It must be remembered 
that a part of the rebels were samurai farmers, who 
were inured to arms, and who knew perfectly that 
neither consideration nor mercy would be shown 
them or their families in case the castle were taken. 



262 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

The remainder of the besieged force were the Chris, 
tian insurgents, who had been driven to this rebellion 
by their cruel persecution. Nothing could be worse 
than what they had already endured, and they had 
no expectation that if they were beaten in this con= 
test any pity would be shown to them. Despair 
made the attitude of both divisions of the rebels 
one of determined resistance, and their obstinacy 
led the besiegers to put forth every effort. 

One step which they took in this matter led to 
much discussion and to the widening of the breach 
between the Dutch and the Portuguese. On the 
nth of January, 1638, the besiegers applied to 
the Dutch at Hirado for a supply of gunpowder, 
which request was complied with, and at the same 
time an apology was tendered that no larger quan- 
tity could be sent. Again, on the 15th of Feb- 
ruary a request for cannon to be used in the 
siege was received, and the guns were sent. Mr. 
Koeckebacker says : " We gave the largest and most 
uniform guns in our possession." * Finally, on the 
19th of February, Mr. Koeckebacker was asked to 
send one of the Dutch ships" then at Hirado to 
the assistance of the besiegers. The de Ryp was 
accordingly sent, and Mr. Koeckebacker himself ac- 
companied her. The guns which had been first sent 
were mounted as a land battery, and the guns of the 

* See Dr. Geerts' paper, Asiatic Society Transactions, vol. xi., p. 

75- 

2 The ships in use at this time among the Japanese were far less 
seaworthy than those of European nations. The accompanying 
figures given by Charlevoix, although probably somewhat fanciful, 
show the impractical character of the vessels of that time. 







PLEASURE YACHTS AND MERCHANT VESSEL. 

(Redrawn from Charlevoix, Histoire et DescriMion de yapott^ 

263 



264 THE STORY OF JAP A IV, 

de Ryp from her anchorage in the bay were trained 
on the castle. It was a new experience for the Jap- 
anese to see cannon used in the siege of a castle, but 
the effect was much less than had been expected. 
No practicable breach was made, and the final result 
seemed as far off as ever. '' During the fifteen days 
from the 24th of February to the 12th of March, 
there were thrown into the camp of the enemy 
four hundred and twenty-six cannon balls from the 
twenty guns of the ship de RypT * 

In the meantime the Japanese officers began to 
feel that it was not a dignified proceeding to call 
upon a foreign nation to help them to put down a 
local rebellion. Even the insurgents had shot an 
arrow into the imperial camp to which a letter was 
attached, deriding them for calling for assistance 
when there were so many courageous soldiers in 
Japan. Whatever may have been the cause, the 
Dutch received notice on the 12th of March that 
their ship was no longer required, and accordingly 
they returned to Hirado. The castle was taken by 
assault on the I2th of April, 1638, after a siege 
which had lasted one hundred and two days, and 
about seven months from the breaking out of the 
rebellion. By special orders from Yedo the insur- 
gents captured in the castle were to the last man, 
woman, and child put to death.^ The father of 

^ See Dr. Geerts' paper, Asiatic Society Transactions ^ vol. xi., 
p. III. 

'^ Mr. Koeckebacker says : " The rebels counted in all, young and 
old, as it was said, about forty thousand. They were all killed except 
one of the four principal leaders, being an artist who formerly used 
to gain his livelihood by making idols. This man was kept alive and 



CHRISTIANITY IJV THE IJTH CENTURY. 26$ 

Shiro, the young leader, was crucified, and Shiro 
himself was decapitated, and his head exposed for 
seven days on the great pier at Nagasaki. The 
daimyo, whose misgovernment had brought on this 
rebellion in Amakusa, was stripped of most of his 
territories, and he was so intensely hated in what 
remained to him that he committed hara-kiri. The 
daimyo of Arima, whose misconduct and neglect 
had driven the samurai farmers into their fatal 
rising, was also permitted to take his own life. 

The help, which the Dutch rendered in this siege, 
exposed them to much vituperation. Naturally, the 
Jesuit historians have taken a very unfavorable view 
of the Dutch share in this sad transaction. Dr. 
Geerts in his defence of the Dutch argues : " Koecke- 
backer did no more than any one else of any nation- 
ality would probably have done in the same difficult 
position. . . . His endeavor was to preserve 
from decline or destruction the interests intrusted to 
him, and this was done at the smallest possible 
price. . . . Moreover, the letters of Koecke- 
backer clearly show that the Japanese government 

sent to Yedo." — Dr. Geerts' paper, Asiatic Society Transactions, vol. 
xi., part I, p. 107. 

There is a tradition that a number of the prisoners wlio were 
captured at this castle were hurled down from the rocks of the island 
now called Papenberg in Nagasaki harbor. But Dr. Geerts ridicules 
this notion and says : "A little local knowledge would show it to be 
impossible to throw people from the rocks on Papenberg into the sea, 
as the rocks are by no means steep bluffs, but possess an inclined 
shape and a shore. A little knowledge of the Dutch language would 
further show that the name Papenberg means ' mountain of the priest,' 
in allusion to the shape of a Roman Catholic priest's cap or bonnet." 
- -Asiatic Society Transactions, vol. xi., part I, p. I15. 



266 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

did not ask the aid of the Dutch in the persecution 
of Christians, as has often been asserted by foreign 
authors, who have not taken the trouble to inform 
themselves thoroughly on the subject, but they re- 
quested the guns and the aid of the Dutch vessel for 
the purpose of subduing rebellious subjects. . . . 
There could be no valid reason for Koeckebacker to 
refuse the pressing request for aid, and consequently 
he agreed to give assistance, as every wise man 
would have done in his place. . . . Koeckebacker 
did not take part in the general massacre which fol- 
lowed on the nth of April, when the fortress of the 
rebels was taken by the imperial troops, as he left 
with his ship for Hirado on the I2th of March, leav- 
ing the guns behind, in Arima. Had it been in his 
power to prevent such a general massacre after the 
fortress had been taken, and the rebels were prison- 
ers, he would no doubt have done so." * 

This frightful termination to the rebellion, fol- 
.owed as it was by severe and persistent measures 
against Christians everywhere, was apparently the 
death-blow to the church in the empire. No further 
efforts were made, either by the daimyos of provinces 
or by the heads of the church, to make open head- 
way against the determined efforts of the govern- 
ment. Whatever was done was in secret, and every 
means was tried on the part of those who still clung 
to the Christian belief, and especially of those who 
were still daring enough to try to minister to them, 
to conceal their locality and their identity.'' 

' See Dr, Geerts' paper, Asiatic Society Transactions, vol, xi., 
part I, pp. no and in. 

^ A Japanese writer thus sums up the result of the effort to introduce 
Christianity into his country: "After nearly a hundred years of 



CHRISTIANITY IN THE IJTH CENTURY, 26^ 

The history of Christianity in Japan from this 
time downward was that of a scattered and dismem- 
bered remnant strugghng for existence. A long hne 
of edicts reaching to modern times was directed 
against "the corrupt sect," repeating again and 
again the directions for its suppression. The kiri- 
shitan bugyo, or Christian inquisitor, had his office 
in Yedo, and under him was a numerous and active 
corps of assistants. Inouye Chikugo-no-Kami for a 
long time held this position. A place is still pointed 
out called Karishitan Zaka, or Christian Valley, 
where once stood the house in which were confined 
a number of the foreign priests. Here may be seen 
the grave of Father Chiara, who had under torture 
abjured his faith, and remained a prisoner for forty 
years, dying 1685.' Professor Dixon says that " there 
are two bamboo tubes inserted in sockets in front of 
the tomb, which I have never found empty, but 
always full of flowers in bloom. No one knows who 

Christianity and foreign intercourse, the only apparent results of this 
contact with another religion and civilization were the adoption of 
gunpowder and firearms as weapons, the use of tobacco and the habit 
of smoking, the making of sponge-cake, the naturalization into the 
language of a few foreign words, and the introduction of new and 
strange forms of disease." — Shigetaka Shiga's History of Nations, 
Tokyo, 1888, The words introduced into the language from the 
Portuguese, except several derived from Christianity, are as follows : 
tabako, tobacco ; pan {pad), bread ; kastttera (from Castilla), sponge- 
cake ; tanto, much ; kappa {capo), a waterproof ; kappu {copa), a cup 
or wine glass ; birddo{vellendo), velvet ; biidoro{vidro)^ glass. — Rein's 
yapan, p. 312. 

^ See Mr. Satow's contributions to the discussion of Mr. Gubbins' 
paper, Asiatic Society Transactions, vol. vi., part i, p. 61; also Satow 
and Hawes' Handbook, p. 22 ; also Grifhs' Alikadds Empire, p, 262 ; 
and Professor Dixon's paper on the Christian Valley, Asiatic Society 
Transactions^ vol. xvi., p. 207. 



268 THE STORY OF JAPANS 

offer these flowers, but they must be descendants of 
the Doshin Christians, or beUevers in Christianity, or 
worshippers of Koshin." Here also was confined 
Father Baptiste Sidotti, a SiciHan Jesuit who ven- 
tured to enter Japan in 1707 with the purpose of re- 
suming the work of the Jesuits which the persecution 
had interrupted. 

And yet with all this vigilance and severity on the 
part of the government, what was the amazement of 
the Christian world to learn that the old faith still 
survived ! In the villages around Nagasaki there 
were discovered in 1865,^ not only words and sym- 
bols which had been preserved in the language, but 
even communities where had been kept alive for 
more than two centuries the worship bequeathed to 
them by their ancestors. We shall have occasion 
hereafter to refer to this interesting memento of the 
Christianity of the seventeenth century. 

' See Chamberlain's Things Japanese^ 1892, p. 300. 




CHAPTER XII. 

FEUDALISM IN JAPAN. 

Ieyasu was not only a general of eminent abili- 
ties, who had from his youth been accustomed to 
the responsibility and management of great cam- 
paigns, but he was a statesman who knew how to 
secure the advantage to be obtained from victories 
and conquests. After the decisive battle of Sekiga- 
hara, when the control of the empire became fixed 
in his hands, we hear little more of him as a general, 
excepting in the battle at Osaka, when the for- 
tunes of Hideyori were finally and definitely settled. 
The common conception of Ieyasu is not that of 
a great commander like Hideyoshi, but rather of an 
organizer and law-maker, who out of confused and 
dismembered provinces and principalities of the em- 
pire constructed a firm and abiding state.' After 
his settlement of the dissensions at home, and his 
admirable adjustment of the outstanding difficulties 
with Korea and China, which we have already traced, 
we shall find Ieyasu principally engaged in framing 
a government which should be suited to the peculiar 

' See Legacy of Ieyasu^ cap. xv. 
269 



270 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

wants and founded on the historical antecedents of 
the country. 

There was one characteristic of leyasu which has 
not received sufficient attention. Although not a 
great scholar in any sense, even in the age in which 
he lived, he was more familiar than most men of 
affairs of his day with the Chinese classical writings, 




lEYASU. 

and was in the more leisurely periods of his life a 
noted patron of learned men. The Chinese classics 
were said to have been brought to Japan at an early 
period, even before the first introduction of Buddh- 
ism. But the period was too early and the condi- 
tion of the country too rude to make the reading 
and study of the philosophical and political writings 
of Confucius and Mencius an essential part of the 



FEUDALISM IN' JAPAN. 2/1 

education of the people. The culture which Buddh- 
ism brought with it, accompanied with a knowledge 
of the writing and reading of the Chinese letters, 
was all that obtained any currency during the dis- 
turbed and warlike ages of Japanese history. But 
when peace was at last established by the supremacy 
of leyasu, and the active Japanese intellect had 
some other employment than fighting, then learn- 
ing took a great start. And as the only idea which 
the Japanese possessed of learning was that which 
prevailed in China and was imbedded in the Chinese 
writings, they naturally turned to them for thought 
and systematic training. 

Fortunately leyasu was a man who appreciated 
at its full value the effect of learning on the charac- 
ter of his people. He caused the Confucian classics ' 
to be printed at a press which he patronized in 
Fushimi, and this was said to be the first time these 
works had ever been printed in Japan. He gathered 
scholars about him at Fushimi, at Yedo, and after 
his retirement at Shizuoka (Sumpu). He favored 
education and encouragejd the daimyos to establish 
schools where the children of their retainers could 
be taught not only military accomplishments but 
the elements of a good education. The Chinese 
classics were made the essentials of such an educa- 
tion, and the chief duty of a school was to teach the 

' The Confucian classics consist of the Four Books, viz. : The Great 
Learning, The Doctrine of the Mean, The Confucian Analects, and 
The Sayings of Mencius ; and the Five Canons, viz.:- The Book of 
Changes, The Book of Poetry, The Book of History, The Canon of 
Rites, and Spring and Autumn {^Annals of the State of Lu^ by Con- 
fucius). Chamberlain's Things Japanese, i8g2, p. 92. 



272 



THE STORY OF JAPAN, 



pupils to read and write and understand the works 
which their venerable and learned neighbor had 
furnished them. 




MIXING INK FOR WRITING. 
(From R6gamey's Art and Industry^ 



Unfortunately this movement in behalf of learn- 
ing was hampered by the impracticable nature of 
the Chinese written language. Instead of a few 
characters representing sounds, like European alpha- 
bets, it consists of thousands of symbols, each repre- 
senting an idea. The pupil must therefore spend 
years in learning to make, and know and read the 
mere signs of language. And in the modern neces- 



f: 4H ^ 


ffim 1 1 

urn ^^ 


^ ,^ ^ 




■^ ^ .V 




^ ^^^ ^^ 


. ?^:L 


^^C•-'^Q^S^^>~ 


--^—SA 



^ o o 



c3 o 
• ^ ft 



•S w 



274 



THE STORY OF JAPAN, 



sities of printing/ the, compositor must handle not 
less than 4,000 or 5,000 Chinese characters, besides 
the Japanese kana and other needful marks. The 
kana here mentioned were the result of a promis- 
ing effort which was made to simplify the Chinese 



wa 


y 

ra 




ina 


ha 


na 


ta 


sa 


ka 


r 

a 


^ 

wi 


n 




mi 


hi 


ni 


chi 


1/ 

Bhi 




i 


wu 


ru 




A 

mu 


7 

hu 


5< 

nu 


7 

tsu 


su 


ku 




T, 

we 


re 


ye 


me 


he 


ne 


te 


se 


ke 


31 


-WO 


P 

TO 


yo 


mo 


ho 


/ 

no 


to 


y 

so 


=1 
ko 






JAPANESE SYLLABARY. 

written language by expressing it in symbols repre- 
senting sounds. Forty-seven kana letters — by repe- 
tition extended to fifty — each representing a syllable, 
are used to express Japanese words. 

The castle of Yedo was reconstructed and enlarged 
after the battle of Sekigahara, while leyasu con- 

^ An accurate and amusing account of the printing of a modern 
newspaper in Japan is given in Mr. Henry Norman's Real Japan, p, 
43 et seq. 



FEUDALISM IN JAPAN, 2/5 

tinued to reside at Fushimi. The Jesuit fathers, 
who accompanied the Father Provincial on his visit 
to leyasu, assert that 300,000 men were employed in 
this work. Very much of the ground where the 
present city of Tokyo now stands, was then, accord- 
ing to old maps, covered with water. In excavating 
the moat which surrounds the castle, and the canals 
connecting this moat with the Sumida-gawa, immense 
quantities of earth were obtained, which were used 
to fill up lagoons and to reclaim from the shallow 
bay portions which have now become solid land. 
This work of building the castle and fitting the city 
for the residence of a great population, was carried 
on by many of the successors of leyasu. The third 
shogun, lemitsu, the grandson of leyasu, made great 
improvements both to the castle and the city, so that 
the population and position of Yedo in no long time 
placed it as the chief city of the empire/ 

The task to which leyasu devoted himself during 
the years of his residence at Yedo was that of con- 
solidating and settling the feudal system of the 
empire. The daimyos had for centuries been so 
accustomed to conduct themselves independently, 
and to govern each his own province in his own way, 
that they might be expected to resent any efforts 
to restrict their action. Fortunately leyasu was a 
mild and temperate man, who, while he could act 

^ For a history of the city of Yedo, and reference to the disasters 
to which it has been subject from fires, earthquakes, and pestilences, 
see Satow and Hawes' Handbook, p. 6. See also " The Castle of 
Yedo," by T. R, H. McClatchie, Asiatic Society Transactions, vol. 
vi., part I, and "The Feudal Mansions of Y^dio" Asiatic Society 
Transactions, vol. vii., part 3. 



276 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

with firmness, was most considerate of the feelings 
and motives of others. After the decisive victory of 
Sekigahara he readily and cordially made terms with 
his enemies, and did not show himself rapacious in 
exacting from them undue penalties for their hostil- 
ity. To the daimyo of Satsuma, as we have already 
seen, he restored the entire territory which Taiko 
Sama had given him. The daimyo of Choshu was 
allowed to keep two of the provinces out of the ten 
which he had acquired by conquest, yet these two 
made him still one of the richest and most powerful 
princes in the empire. With others he dealt in the 
same liberal spirit, so that out of the old proud 
daimyos whom he spared and permitted to continue 
in their holdings, he created for himself a body of 
fast friends. 

But it must be remembered that the end leyasu 
had in view was to establish a system which should 
continue loyal to his successors, and to a line of 
successors who should be of his own family. Hence 
out of the confiscated territories, and out of those 
which were in part vacated as a fine on the former 
holders, and out of those which had become vacant 
by natural causes, he carved many fiefs with which 
he endowed members of his own family and those 
retainers who were closely affiliated with him. He 
had twelve children,^ nine sons and three daughters. 
The daughters were married to three daimyos. The 
oldest of his sons, Nobuyasu, had died at an early 
age. His second son, Hideyasu, had been adopted 
by Taiko Sama, and to him leyasu gave the province 

* See Dickson's Japajz^ p. 294. 



FEUDALISM IN JAPAN. 277 

of Echizen as his fief. The third son, Hidetada, 
who shared with his father the command of the 
forces at the battle Sekigahara, had married a 
daughter of Taiko Sama, and succeeded his father 
as shogun. On his youngest three sons he bestowed 
the rich provinces of Owari, Kii, and Mito, and con- 
stituted the families to which they gave rise as the 
Go-safi-ke, or the three honorable families. In case 
of a failure in the direct line, the heir to the sho- 
gunate was to be chosen from one of these famihes. 
Without undertaking to give a detailed account of 
the feudal system as modified and established by 
leyasu, it will be sufficient to give the classes of 
daimyos as they continued to exist under the Toku- 
gawa shogunate.^ It must be understood that 
feudalism existed in Japan before the time of 
leyasu. It can be traced to the period when Yori- 
tomo^ obtained from the emperor permission to send 
into each province a sJiiugo who should be a military 
man, and should act as protector of the kokushit or 
governor, who was always a civilian appointed by 
the emperor. These military protectors were pro- 
vided with troops, for the pay of whom Yoritomo 
got permission from the emperor to levy a tax. 
Being active men, and having troops under their 
command, they gradually absorbed the entire au- 
thority, and probably in most cases displaced the 

^ Those who desire a fuller explanation of this complicated and 
difficult matter are referred to Dr. Yoshida's Staatsverfassung und 
Lehnwesen von Japan, Hague, 1890, and to the paper on "The Feudal 
System in Japan," by J. H. Gubbins, Esq., Asiatic Society Transac- 
tions, vol. XY., part 2 ; also to the introduction by Professor Wig- 
more, do.^ vol. XX., Supplement, p. 25. 



278 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

kokushu, who only represented the powerless gov- 
ernment at Kyoto. Under the disturbed times 
which followed the fall of the house of Yoritomo 
these shiugo became the hereditary military gov- 
ernors of the provinces, and usurped not only the 
functions but the name of kokushu. They became 
a class of feudal barons who, during the interval 
when no central authority controlled them, governed 
each one his own province on his own responsibility. 
Even after the establishment of a central authority, 
and continuously down to the abolition of feudalism, 
the government of the people was in the hands of 
the daimyo of each province. The assessment of 
taxes, the construction of roads and bridges, the 
maintenance of education, the punishment of crime, 
the collection of debts, the enforcement of contracts, 
and indeed the whole circle of what was denomi- 
nated law were in the hands of the local government. 
In truth, in Japan as in other feudal countries there 
was scarely such a thing as law in existence. The 
customs that prevailed, the common-sense decisions 
of a magistrate, the final determinations of the dai- 
myo, were authoritative in every community. And 
in all these each province was in a great degree a 
law unto itself. 

The classes of daimyos as arranged and established 
by leyasu were not altered by his successors, al- 
though the number included under each class was 
liable to minor changes. Before leyasu's time there 
were three classes of daimyos, viz. : eighteen koku- 
shu, who may be termed lords of provinces, thirty- 
two ryoshu or lords of smaller districts, and two 



FEUDALISM IN JAPAN, 2/9 

hundred and twelve joshu or lords of castles, that is 
two hundred and sixty-two in all. The distinction 
between the first two was one of rank, but the third 
differed from the others in the fact that the assessment 
in each case was less than 100,000 koku of rice. The 
number of kokushu daimiates was increased by the 
addition of Kii and Owari, to which leyasu appointed 
two of his sons as daimyos. A third son he appointed 
daimyo of Mito, which was already of the kokushu 
rank. He vacated this place by compelling the pre- 
vious holder to accept in place of it another daimiate 
of equivalent value. 

leyasu divided all daimyos into two distinct 
classes, the fudai and the tozama. The term fudai 
was used to designate those who were considered 
the vassals of the Tokugawa family. The tozama 
daimyos were those who were considered as equal to 
the vassals of the Tokugawa family, but who were 
not in fact vassals. Of the former there were 
originally one hundred and seventy-seven, and of the 
latter eighty-six.^ Twenty-one of the /2/</<3!2 daimyos 
were relatives of the shogun's family, of whom three, 
as has been stated, were the "honorable families." 
All the others, numbering eighteen, bore the name 
of Matsudaira, one of the family names of leyasu, 
derived from a small village in the province of 

' In the Legacy of leyasu will be found the following statement : 
"The fudai are those samurai who followed me and proffered me 
their fealty before the overthrow of the castle of Osaka in the province 
of Sesshu. The tozama are those samurai who returned and sub- 
mitted to me after its downfall, of whom there were eighty-six." — 
See Legacy of leyasu^ cap. vii. 



28o THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

Mikawa, where leyasu was born. This was allowed 
to them as a special honor. 

We give here the classification of the daimyos as 
enumerated by M. Appert * in his list for the epoch 
about 1850: 

1. Go-san-ke (three honorable families) . 3 

2. Fudai daimyos (vassals of Tokugawa 

family) . . . . . 

3. Tozama daimyos (equal to vassals) 

4. Kamon (all the other branches of Toku 

gawa family) .... 

5. Daimyos, not classified 



Total 



99 

18 
6 

263 



The five leading tozama daimyos were Kaga, 
Sendai, Aizu, Chosha, and Satsuma, and although 
they ranked after the go-san-ke, they had some 
superior advantages. They were classed as kyakubun, 
or guests, and whenever they paid a visit to the 
capital of the shogun, they were met by envoys and 
conducted to their residences. 

Besides these daimyos of different classes, leyasu 
established an inferior kind of feudal nobility, which 
was termed hatamoto. This means literally under 
the flag. They had small holdings assigned to them, 
and their income varied very greatly. Mr. Gubbins, 
in his paper, puts the number at about 2,000. It 
was the custom to employ the members of this 
minor class of aristocracy very largely in filling the 
official positions in the shogun's government. In- 

* Ancien Japon^ vol. ii. 



FEUDALISM IN JAPAN, 28 1 

deed, it was held as a common maxim, that the 
offices should be filled by poor men rather than by 
rich/ The gokenin, numbering about 5,000, were 
still another class who were inferior to the hatamoto. 
They had small incomes, and were mostly employed 
in subordinate positions. Beneath these again stood 
the ordinary fighting men, or common samurai, who 
were the retainers of the daimyos and of the shogun. 
They were the descendants of the soldiers of the 
time of Yoritomo, who appointed shitigo to reside 
with a company of troops in each province, for the 
purpose of keeping the peace. They had already 
grown to claim a great superiority over the common 
people, and leyasu encouraged them in this feeling 
of superciliousness. The people were divided into 
four classes, arranged in the following order: 
samurai, farmers, artisans, and merchants. And in 
his Legacy leyasu thus expresses himself: "The 
samurai are masters of the four classes. Farmers, 
artisans, and merchants may not behave in a rude 
manner towards samurai ... and a samurai is 
not to be interfered with in cutting down a fellow 
who has behaved to him in a manner other than is 
expected." Again he says^: *' A girded sword is 
the living soul of a samurai''' 

The authority coming from so high and so revered 
a source did not grow less during the centuries of 
feudalism which followed. The samurai did not 
fail to use all the privileges which were allowed them 

^ Dickson's Japan, p. 303. 

^ See Legacy of leyasti, cap. xiv, 

2 See Legacy of leyasu, cap. xxxvii. 



282 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

by leyasu's testamentary law. Especially in the 
large cities where great numbers of them were gath- 
ered, and where idleness led them into endless evil 
practices, the arrogance and overbearing pride of the 
samurai made them an intolerable nuisance. Never- 
theless it must be allowed that nearly all that was 
good, and high-minded, and scholarly in Japan was 
to be found among the ranks of the feudal retainers. 
It is to them that the credit must be given of 
the great changes and improvements which have 
been initiated since Japan was opened up to for- 
eigners. They were the students who went out into 
the world to learn what western science had to teach 
them. They have been pioneers in a return to a 
central authority and to the experiment of a rep- 
resentative government, and to the principles of 
freedom and toleration to which the country is 
committed. To them Japan owes its ancient as 
well as its modern system of education. Its old 
stores of literature, it is true, are not due to them, 
but surely all its modern development in newspapers, 
magazines, history, political science, and legal and 
commercial codes, is to be traced to the adaptability 
and energy of the old samurai class. 

The samurai had the privilege of carrying two 
swords ; the principal one {katand) was about four 
feet long, nearly straight, but slightly curved toward 
the point, the blade thick and ground to a keen 
though blunt edge. It was carried in a scabbard 
thrust through the obi or belt on the left side, with 
the edge uppermost. Besides the katana the samurai 
carried also a short sword about nine and a hal/ 



i 



284 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

inches long, called wakizashi. The blade of the 
sword was fastened to the hilt by a pin of wood 
and could be readily detached. On the part of the 
blade inserted in the hilt, the maker's name was al- 
ways inscribed, and it was a special matter of pride 
when he was one of the famous sword-smiths of 
Japan. The most noted makers were Munechika, 
Masamune, Yoshimitsu, and Muramasa, who ranged 
from the tenth down through the fourteenth cen- 
tury. The quality of the Japanese sword has been 
a matter of national pride, and the feats which have 
been accomplished by it seem almost beyond belief. 
To cleave at one blow three human bodies laid one 
upon another; to cut through a pile of copper coins 
without nicking the edge, were common tests which 
were often tried. ^ 

It was an essential part of the education of a 
yoww^ samurai \h-dX. he should be trained thoroughly 
in martial exercises. The latter part of every school 
day was given up to this kind of physical training. 
He was taught to ride a horse, to shoot with the 
bow, to handle the spear, and especially to be skilled 
in the etiquette and use of the sword.^ They went 

' For the general history of the sword, see Mitford's Tales of Old 
Japan, vol. i., p. 70; T. R. H. McClatchie's, The sword of Japan, 
Asiatic Society Transactions, vol, vi., p. 55 ; Chamberlain's Things 
Japanese, i8g2, p, 396. For the mode of manufacture, see Rein's 
Industries of Japan, p. 430 ; and especially for the artistic decora- 
tion of swords, see Satow and Hawes' Hand-book, p. 114. 

'^ I have been told by a young Satsuma samurai that when he was a 
boy it was a test of skill with the sword, to set a chop-stick (which 
was about six inches long) on its end and before it could fall over to 
draw 8 sword from its scabbard and cut it in two. 




'^<^3 



SWOR^J, SPEARS. AND MATCHLOCK, 



286 



THE STORY OF JAPAN. 



through again and again the tragic details of the 
commission of hara-kiri, and had it impressed on 
their youthful imaginations with such force and 
vividness, that when the time for its actual enact- 
ment came they were able 
to meet the bloody reaHty 
without a tremor and with 
perfect composure.' 

The foundation of the re- 
lations between the feudal 
chiefs and their retainers lay 
in the doctrine of Confucius. 
The principles which he lays 
down fitted in admirably to 
the ideas which the histori- 
cal system of Japanese feu- 
dalism had made familiar. 
They inculcated absolute 
submission of the son to 
the father, of the wife to her 
husband, and of the servant 
to his master, and in these 
respects Japanese feudalism 
was a willing and zealous 
disciple. On these lines leyasu constructed his plans 
of government, and his successors enthusiastically 
followed in his footsteps. 

In religious belief the nation by the time of leyasu 
was largely Buddhistic. Through ten centuries and 




LANTERN. 



' For an account of hara-kiri see the ' ' Story of the Forty-Seven 
Ronins " in Mitford's Tales of Old yapan^ vol. i., p. I. 



;^^r-^^ ^ »y » ^-J !. ""K ' yg g 



M 



»j*«^if^ii#*: >.^, 



^ii^ 




287 



DAIBUTSU AT KAMAKURA. 
(From a photograph.) 



288 TFIE STORY OF JAPAN, 

a half the active propagation of this faith had been 
going on, until now by far the greater number of the 
population were Buddhists. In his Legacy leyasu 
expresses a desire to tolerate all religious sects ex- 
cept the Christian. He says: *' High and low alike 
may follow their own inclinations with respect to re- 
ligious tenets which have obtained down to the pres- 
ent time, except as regards the false and corrupt 
schqol (Christianity). Rehgious disputes have ever 
proved the bane and misfortune of the empire, and 
should determinedly be put a stop to." ' 
'While he was therefore tolerant towards all the 
different sects of Buddhism and towards the old 
Shinto faith of the country, he particularly patron- 
ized the Jodo sect to which his ancestors had been 
attached, and to which he charges his posterity to 
remain faithful.'^ In the archives of the Buddhist 
temple Zojoji at Shiba in Tokyo was preserved 
an account written by the head priest of the time, 
how leyasu, in 1590, visited the temple and took it 
under his patronage, saying,^ " For a general to be 
without an ancestral temple of his own is as though 
he were forgetful of the fact that he must die. . . . 
I have now come to beg of you to let me make this 
my ancestral temple here." So that from the time 
of leyasu the Jodo was the authorized sect to which 
the court of the shoguns was especially attached, 
and to this is to be attributed the fact that its 



* See Legacy of leyasu, cap. xxxi. 
^ See Legacy of leyasu^ cap. xxviii. 

^ T. R, H. McClatchie, "The Castle of Yedo," Asiatic Suriety 
Transactions, vol. vi., part i, p. 131. 




BELL AT KYOTO. 



2S9 



290 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

temples and monasteries in Tokyo have always been 
of the most majestic and gorgeous character/ 

leyasu did not long hold the ofifice of shogun, 
which the emperor had conferred upon him in 1603. 
It is not easy to understand why a man, who was 
only sixty-three years of age and who was still in 
vigorous health, should wish to throw off the re- 
sponsibilities of office and retire to private life. We 
must remember, however, that it was the custom of 
his country, consecrated by the usage of the im- 
perial house and of the shoguns and regents who had 
preceded him. Morever, though he surrendered to 
his son the title of shogun, he retained in his own 
hands a large part of the power which he had hitherto 
exercised. 

It may be supposed that he was anxious to estab- 
lish the succession of the shogunate unquestionably 
in his own family. For this purpose he deemed it 
wise to initiate a successor while he still had the in- 
fluence and the power to compel the acquiescence of 
the feudal lords of the empire. Acting upon these 

' As illustrative of Buddhism at its greatest splendor we give here the 
figures of the great bronze image of Buddha at Kamakura, and of the 
great bell at the temple of Daibutsu in Kyoto. The former was 
erected about A.D. 1252 after plans initiated by Yoritomo before his 
death. The statue in its sitting posture is nearly fifty feet in height. 
It is constructed of separate plates of bronze brazed together, ' For- 
merly it was enclosed in a temple, but this was twice destroyed by 
tidal waves, and since its last destruction in 1494 it has not been re- 
built. 
'■ The bell given in the illustration is that at the temple of Daibutsu, - 
the inscription on which is said to have offended leyasu. It is nearly 
fourteen feet in height and nine feet in diameter. Its weight is more 
than sixty-three tons. — See Satow and Hawes' Handbook, p. 368. 



FE UDA LISM IN JAPAN, 29 1 

considerations leyasu, in 1605, retired in favor of his 
third son Hidetada. He received from the emperor 
the title of sei-i-tai-shogun, which his father had held, 
leyasu took up his residence at Sumpu ' (now 
Shizuoka), which was situated on Suruga bay, one 
hundred and fourteen miles from the shogun's capi- 
tal. Here he maintained a court and practically in 
all important matters governed the country. He 
was free, however, from the petty details of the ad- 
ministration, and devoted himself as an amateur to a 
literary life, to the collection and printing of books, 
and to the encouragement and patronage of literary 
men, in which he delighted. 

In the meantime important events had been tak- 
ing place which had great influence on the history 
of Japan. The contest between the Spanish on the 
one hand, and the Dutch and English on the other, 
was not confined to the Atlantic, but broke out in 
the Pacific, where the Portuguese and Spaniards had 
so long been predominant. A preliminary to the 
opening of trade with the Dutch were the arrival of 
William Adams and his extraordinary experiences 
in Japan. As we learn from his own letters,'' he was 

^ In the account given by Don Rodrigo de Vivero, the late governor 
of Manila, of a visit made in 1608 by him in behalf of Spanish trade, 
Yedo is described as a city of seven hundred thousand inhabitants, and 
Sumpu, which he calls Suruga, where the emperor (as he denominates 
leyasu) lived, is estimated to contain from five to six hundred thou- 
sand inhabitants. He was so pleased with the country through which 
he travelled that he declares, " if he could have prevailed upon him- 
self to renounce his God and his king he should have preferred that 
country to his own." — See Hiidreth's Japan, etc., pp. 145, 147. 

- These letters were written from Japan between 161 1 and 1617. 
They were printed in part in Purchas' Filgrimes, and are included in 



292 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

born near Rochester in England, 1574, and when 
twelve years old was apprenticed to Nicholas Dig- 
gins as a pilot. With him he served for twelve 
years, then took service as pilot major of a fleet of 
five sail, which was about to be despatched by the 
" Indish Companie " to take part in the trade of the 
East Indies. This fleet had a rough time, and with 
fevers and scurvy and want of food a great part of 
the crews of the five vessels died. They sailed by 
the way of the straits of Magellan, then northward 
past Chili, and westward across the broad Pacific. 
Two of the ships turned back at the straits and 
returned to Holland. A third vessel was captured 
by the Spaniards, and the pinnace of a fourth was 
seized by eight men, and run into some island on their 
way, supposed to be one of the Sandwich Islands, and 
there wrecked, and the eight men probably eaten. 
The two vessels still remaining were the Hope and 
the Charity. The former of these was never more 
heard of. The sole remaining vessel was the Charity, 
of which Jaques Maihore was the master, and Wil- 
liam Adams was the pilot. Sickness, especially the 
scurvy, which was the frightful scourge on board the 
vessels of that day, had reduced the crew, so that 
only four were able to walk, of whom Adams was 
one, and four more could creep on their knees. 

In this condition they reached, on the eleventh 
of April, 1600, the northeastern coast of the island 
of Kyushu, landing in the province of Bungo, whose 

the publications of the Hackluyt Society. From the latter source 
they were printed in pamphlet form by the Japan Gazette at Yoko= 
hama, 1879. It is from this last source these references are taken. 



FEUDALISM IN JAPAN. 293 

prince in earlier days had been the friend and patron 
of the Portuguese Jesuits. They were kindly re- 
ceived, the governor of the district furnishing a 
guard to protect their property — too late however 
for the preservation of much of it — and a house in 
which the sick could be cared for. In a few days a 
Portuguese Jesuit and other Portuguese arrived 
from Nagasaki, through whom the Dutch could 
communicate with the natives. The national and 
religious animosity between the strangers and their 
interpreters could not fail, however, to manifest 
itself. The Portuguese tried to create the impres- 
sion that the refugees were pirates and unworthy of 
protection and help. 

In accordance with the usual custom, word was 
immediately sent to leyasu (whom Adams calls the 
emperor), who at this time was at the castle of 
Osaka. He sent boats to Bungo, by which Adams 
and one of the crew were conveyed to his castle. 
Adams gives an interesting account of his reception, 
of the questions asked concerning his country, and 
its relations to the Spanish and Portuguese. He 
took occasion to explain, that the object of the 
Dutch in entering the East was purely that of trade, 
that they had in their own country many commodi- 
ties which they would be glad to exchange for the 
products of the eastern nations. 

After this interview Adams was kept thirty-nine 
days in prison, expecting to suffer the punishment 
of crucifixion, which he understood was the common 
mode of disposing of such characters. He found 
afterwards that the Portuguese had been using means 



294 "^HE STORY OF JAPAN, 

to poison the mind of leyasu by representing them 
as dangerous characters, and recommending that all 
the refugees should be put to death as a warning to 
others. But he tells us ^ that leyasu answered them, 
that *' we as yet had done to him nor to none of his 
lands any harm or dammage [and it was] against 
Reason and Justice to put us to death. If our 
countreys had warres the one with the other, that 
was no cause that he should put us to death." 

While Adams was thus kept in prison, the Charity 
had been brought to Sakai, near to Osaka. Finally 
he was set at liberty, and suffered to revisit his ship, 
where he found the captain and remnant of the 
crew. The goods and clothing on board had been 
stolen by the natives, which leyasu tried to recover 
for them. But everything had been so scattered 
that it was -impossible to regain it, " savinge 50,000 
Rs in reddy money was commanded to be geven 
us" [as compensation]. After this settlement they 
were ordered to sail with their ship to the *' land of 
Quanto and neere to the citie Eddo," whither 
leyasu was about to proceed by land. Here they 
had a mutiny among their men, which ended in the 
entire disbanding of the crew, and the dividing up 
among them the money which they had received for 
their goods. Each man was left to shift for himself. 
The captain got permission to sail in a Japanese 
junk to Patau, where he hoped to meet Dutch 
vessels. 

Adams himself was kept about the shogun's court, 

^ First letter of Adams in pamphlet edition. Yokohama, 1878, 
p. 8. 



FEUDALISM IN JAPAN. 295 

and was made useful in various ways. His first 
achievement was to build a vessel of about eighteen 
tons burthen, which gained him great favor, in 
which he made several short voyages. Then in 1609, 
by command of the shogun, he built another ship of 
one hundred and twenty tons burthen, which also 
was a successful venture. For it so happened that 
the governor of Manila was on his way to Nova 
Spania ' in a large ship of one thousand tons burthen, 
and was wrecked on the east coast of Japan, in the 
province of Shimosa. The governor and those of 
his comrades who were saved from the shipwreck 
were sent on to Acapulco in the ship which Adams 
had just built. In the year following, the governor, 
in recognition of their kindness to him, sent back to 
the Japanese government a much larger vessel as a 
present, the original being sent to and retained at 
Manila. 

Adams was a straightforward, honest fellow, and 
commended himself to leyasu by usefulness not 
only in such matters as building ships, but in fur- 
nishing information concerning foreign affairs, which 
at this time were pressing on the government. In 
order to render him more content, leyasu gave him 
a small holding r^t Hemi, near the present town of 
Yokosuka, a few hours' sail from Yedo. He himself 
speaks of this property as " a living like unto a lord- 

* This name, Nova Spania or New Spain, was first given to the 
peninsula of Yucatan, and was afterward extended to the territory of 
Mexico conquered by Cortez. Finally it was given to all the Spanish 
provinces extending on the Pacific coast from Panama to Van Couver's 
island. Acapulco was the principal harbor on the Pacific coast. — See 
Prescott's Conquest of Mexico. 



296 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

ship in England, with eighty or ninety husbandmen, 
that be as my slaves or servants." ' He probably 
also had a residence in Yedo, for there is to this day 
a street called An-jin-choj or Pilot Street, near Nihon- 
bashi, which is popularly believed to have been the 
street in which Adams lived. He himself says that 
he was known among the Japanese as '' An-gin 
Sama," or Mr. Pilot. To console himself for the loss 
of his wife and children left in England, he married 
a Japanese wife, who, with several children, is men- 
tioned by Captain Cocks in the visit above referred 
to. Notwithstanding his frequent endeavors to get 
back to England, he was never able to return, but 
after much important service both to the Dutch and 
English, to which we shall refer below, he died May 
6, 1620.'' 

The first appearance of the Dutch after Adams' 
shipwreck, as above described, was in 1609, when 
the Red Lion and the yacht Griffon arrived at Hi- 
rado. They were well received by the daimyo, and 

' Captain Cocks in his " Diary," contained in Purchas' Pilgrhnes, 
part I, book iv., gives an account of a visit he made to Yedo in 1616, 
on the business of the English trade, at which time he visited Adams' 
seat, which he calls " Phebe," doubtless mistaking the sound of the 
real name " Meni," — See Chamberlain's Things Japanese, 1892, 

p. 15. 

2 His place of burial was identified in 1872 by Mr. James Walter 
of Yokohama on a beautiful hill near Yokosuka, where both he and 
his Japanese wife lie buried. His will, which was deposited in the 
archives of the East India Company in London, divided his estate 
equally between his Japanese and English families. His Japanese 
landed estate was probably inherited by his Japanese son. His 
personal estate is stated at about five hundred pounds sterling. — See 
Letters of Willia^n Adams ^ p. 39. 



FEUDALISM IN- JAPAN, 297 

a deputation was sent to Yedo to visit the shogun. 
Adams, in his second letter, speaks of their being 
'' received in great friendship, making conditions 
with the emperor (shogun) yearly to send a ship or 
two." They were given a letter addressed to the 
'* King of Holland," with which they went back, 
arriving home July, 1610. This letter, among other 
things, promises, " that they (your subjects), in all 
places, countries, and islands under mine obedience, 
may traffic and build homes serviceable and needful 
for their trade and merchandises, where they may 
trade without any hindrance at their pleasure, as 
well in time to come as for the present, so that no 
man shall do them any wrong. And I will maintain 
and defend them as mine own subjects." ' 

In accordance with this agreement the first vessel 
to arrive was a small yacht in July, 161 1. A deputa- 
tion from this vessel also went to visit the shogun 
and the retired shogun. It so chanced that a Portu- 
guese party had preceded them by a few days. 
These deputations met at the court of leyasu. By 
the assistance of Adams, who was ready to do a 
favor to his old friends, the Dutch were kindly wel- 
comed by the ex-shogun's court, and in spite of the 
hostility, or perhaps aided by the hostility, of the 
Portuguese, they received from him a patent for 
continued trade. As given in Kaempfer in transla- 
tion it is as follows : 

**A11 Dutch ships that come into my empire of 
Japan, whatever place or port they may put into, 

' Hildreth's Japan, etc., p. 142, quoted from Purchas, vol. i., p. 
406. 



298 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

we do hereby expressly command all and every one 
of our subjects not to molest the same in any way, 
nor to be a hindrance to them ; but, on the contrary, 
to show them all manner of help, favor and assist- 
ance. Every one shall beware to maintain the friend- 
ship, in assurance of which we have been pleased to 
give our imperial word to these people ; and every 
one shall take care that our commands and promises 
be inviolably kept. 

" Dated (in Japanese equivalent to) August 30, 
1611."^ 

This was the authority on which the Dutch trade 
in Japan began, and under which, with many changes 
and vicissitudes, it continued to the time when the 
country was opened by treaty to foreign nations. 

The effort made by English merchants to open a 
trade with the Japanese was made only a little after 
this time. Indeed, it is said that the report brought 
back by the Dutch in the Red Lion concerning 
Adams' presence and influence in Japan, gave the 
impulse which started an expedition under Captain 
John Saris in January, 161 1. Saris was an old 
adventurer in the East, and therefore fitted to 
encounter the varied experiences of his proposed 
trip. He carried a letter from James I., then king 
of England, to leyasu the retired shogun. At Ban- 
tam on his way he found that Adams' first letter, ' 
contained in the collection of his letters, and dated 
October 22, 161 1, had just been received by the 

^ Hildreth's yapan, etc., p. 157. 

^ See Letters of William Adams ^ No. I. 



FEUDALISM IN JAPAN. 299 

English merchants. It encouraged Saris to push on 
in his expedition. He arrived at Hirado, June, 1613, 
where the daimyo welcomed him and immediately 
sent off a special messenger to the shogun's court to 
summon Adams to their aid. He came at once, and 
by his advice Captain Saris with a party set out to 
pay his respects to the retired shogun. He gives an 
mteresting account ^ of this journey and visit, which 
resulted in a charter of privileges ^ for the London 
East India Company to trade in any port of the 
empire. Having arranged to his great satisfaction 
this important matter he returned to Hirado, where 
he established a factory to serve as the basis for 
future English trade. In this, however, he encoun- 
tered no little opposition from the Dutch traders, 
who had a factory in the same place. For while 
these enterprising nations, who had been allies in the 
days of the Armada, could combine very readily in 
opposition to the Spanish* and Portuguese, it was 
not easy for either of them to look on complacently 
while the other secured for itself superior advantages 
in the matter of trade. Captain Saris tried to come 
to some agreement with his rivals, so that the prices 
of commodities might be kept up, but he was com- 
pelled to see the Dutch factory, in order to crowd 
him out of the field, putting the goods which they 
had for sale at prices which were ruinous to both. 
Having established matters, however, on as satisfac- 
tory a footing as he could arrange, and having left 

' See Purchas' Pilgrimes, part i, book iv. 

^ These privileges are given in full by Hildreth, p. 169, taken 
from Purchas. 



300 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

his comrade, Captain Cocks, in charge of the EngHsh 
factory, he sailed for home. 

The subsequent events in the history of EngHsh 
trade with Japan may as well be traced here. The 
relations of the English and Dutch in the East grew 
steadily more inimical. Perhaps this was due to the 
increasing rivalry in trade and navigation which 
prevailed between them at home. In 1617 the 
London East India Company fitted out an expedi- 
tion of five large vessels. This fleet arrived in the 
East in the summer of the following year. After 
much hostile skirmishing in which the Dutch ob- 
tained the permanent advantage, and the English 
commander was about to retire, word was brought 
to them from Europe that a peace had been arranged 
between the two countries. The English and Dutch 
vessels accordingly sailed to Japan, where they took 
a hand at trade ; because in those days ships always 
were sent to the East -prepared either to fight or 
trade as the case required. But this amicable ar- 
rangement did not last many years. The massacre 
at the Spice Islands in 1623, for which Cromwell 
afterward exacted an indemnity, ended all attempts 
at co-operation in the East. Soon after this the 
English company withdrew entirely from the Japan- 
ese trade, having lost in the effort forty thousand 
pounds. The Dutch were thus left without a rival, 
and we shall see on what conditions and at what 
sacrifices they continued to maintain their mo- 
nopoly. 

During the period of leyasu's retirement, which 
lasted from 1605 until his death in 1616, he devoted 



FEUDALISM IN JAPAN. 3OI 

himself, as we have seen, to the consolidation of his 
family dynasty and to such literary occupations as 
his leisure allowed. He was a patron of the art de- 
rived from Korea, which then was popular in Japan, 
of printing with movable types.' This art fell into 
disuse afterwards, but during leyasu's retirement in 
Sumpu he interested himself in printing with blocks 
as well as by the new method. When he died he 
was engaged in seeing through the press an edition 
of an important Chinese work. 

He left behind him a document, called the Legacy 
of leyasu, which to those desirous of studying the 
character and motives of the founder of the Toku- 
gawa dynasty possesses a supreme interest. Some 
doubt has been thrown by Japanese critics on the 
authenticity of this composition. It has been as- 
serted that it was not the work of leyasu and there- 
fore not worthy of the reverence in which it has been 
held. But whether the Legacy^ was originally com- 
posed by him or approved and sanctioned by him, 
matters little for our purpose. It dates from the 
time of the founding of the Tokugawa shogunate, 

^ Mr. Satow has collected many facts concerning the history of 
printing in Japan, and among others has shown that printing with 
movable type in Korea was used as early as 1317, that is one hundred 
and twenty-six years before the date of the first printed book in 
Europe. — Asiatic Society Transactions, vol, x., p. 63. 

"^ A translation of this document was made by Mr. J. F. Lowder 
and published in Yokohama in 1874. We are indebted to W. E. 
Grigsby, Esq., formerly professor of law in the University of Tokyo, 
for a valuable paper on the Legacy of leyasu in which a careful analy- 
sis is given and a comparison of its details is made with the provisions 
for the regulation of early communities elsewhere. — See Asiatic 
Society Transactions, vol. iii., part 2, p. 131. 



302 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

and has been an unimpeachable authority during all 
its history. One of the singular features in the dis- 
position of the Legacy, to which Professor Grigsby 
directs attention, was the secrecy in which it was 
kept. The original was preserved in Kyoto and 
was never seen, while an authenticated copy was 
kept at the shogun's court in Yedo, and once a year 
was open to the inspection of all above a certain 
rank. To us it seems unaccountable that a body of 
so-called laws, by which the conduct of men was to 
be guided, should be kept secret from them. But 
it must be remembered that in those days there 
were no such things as laws in the sense we novv 
understand the term. There were magistrates who 
heard causes and complaints, but their decisions 
were based not on laws which had been enacted by 
the government, but upon prevailing custom and 
upon the innate sense of justice which was assumed 
to be present in the mind of every man. Whatever 
laws or rules therefore were in existence were not 
for the information of the people, but for the guid- 
ance of the magistrates. 

The Legacy of leyasu consists of one hundred 
chapters, arranged without any attempt at logical 
order. Each chapter treats of a single, separate 
subject, and is usually of a very moderate length. 
As Professor Grigsby has pointed out : " Sixteen 
chapters consist of moral maxims and reflections ; 
fifty-five are connected with politics and administra- 
tions ; twenty-two refer to legal matters, and in 
seven leyasu relates episodes of his own personal 
history." The moral maxims are quoted chiefly 



FEUDALISM IN JAPAN, 303 

from the works of the Chinese sages, Confucius and 
Mencius. While the collection on the whole has a 
military aspect, and plainly encourages and pro- 
motes the well-being of a military class, yet we see 
in it the mild and peaceful nature of leyasu. The 
fifteenth chapter says : '* In my youth my sole aim 
was to conquer and subjugate inimical provinces and 
to take revenge on the enemies of my ancestors. 
Yuyo teaches, however, that * to assist the people is 
to give peace to the empire,' and since I have come 
to understand that the precept is founded on sound 
principle, I have undeviatingly followed it. Let my 
posterity hold fast this principle. Any one turning 
his back upon it is no descendant of mine. The 
people are the foundation of the empire." 

His estimate of the social relations is given in the 
forty-sixth chapter, in which he says : " The married 
state is the great relation of mankind. One should 
not live alone after sixteen years of age, but should 
procure a mediator and perform the ceremony of 
matrimonial alliance. The same kindred, however, 
may not intermarry. A family of good descent 
should be chosen to marry into ; for when a line of 
descendants is prolonged, the foreheads of ancestors 
expand. All mankind recognize marriage as the first 
law of nature." 

The old custom of servants and retainers follow- 
ing their masters to death, and committing suicide 
in order to accompany them, is referred to in the 
seventy-fifth chapter.^ It is not improbable that 

' leyasu may have had in mind a shocking example of junshi (dy- 
ing with the master) which occurred in his own family. Tadayoshi, 



304 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

some exhibition of this custom occasionally was 
seen in the days of leyasu, for he very sternly con- 
demns it thus : " Although it is undoubtedly an an- 
cient custom for a vassal to follow his lord to death, 
there is not the slightest reason in the practice. . . . 
These practices are strictly forbidden, more espe- 
cially to primary retainers, and also to secondary 
retainers even to the lowest. He is the opposite of 
a faithful servant who disregards this prohibition ; 
his posterity shall be impoverished by the confisca- 
tion of his property, as a warning to those who dis- 
obey the laws." ' 

It is not necessary to follow in detail the line of 
Tokugawa shoguns. Few of them impressed them- 
selves in any marked manner on the history of their 
country. lemitsu, the third shogun, who was a 
grandson of leyasu, was a man of great ability, and 
left many marks of his talents upon the empire. 
Under his administration the capital made great 
advances. He bound the daimyos to his house by 

his fifth son, to whom had been assigned an estate in Owari, died 
young, and five of his retainers, in order to follow their master, com- 
mitted hara-kiri in accordance with the old feudal custom. This is 
believed to have been almost the last instance of the kind, and must 
have touched leyasu very closely. — Mikado's Empire, by W. E. 
Griffis, D.D., p. 272. 

' Notwithstanding this positive prohibition left by leyasu, occasion- 
ally the strength of the old feudal habit was too great for the more 
merciful spirit. It is said when the third sh5gun of the Tokugawa 
family (lemitsu) died, two of the daimyos, Hotta of Sakura and 
Abe of Bingo, committed hara-kiri. Hotta's sword, still stained 
with blood, is retained in the kura of the daimiate at Tokyo, and on 
the anniversary of the event is shown to the samurai^ who appear on 
the occasion in full dress. 



FEUDALISM IN JAPAN. 305 

requiring them to maintain residences in Yedo under 
the surveillance of the government. His mausoleum 
is placed with that of his grandfather amid the 
august glories of Nikko. Tsunayoshi (1681-1709) 
during his incumbency was more than usually inter- 
ested in the peaceful prosperity of his country, and 
is gratefully remembered for his patronage of educa- 
tion and letters. But on the whole they were con- 
tent to fill the office of shogun in a perfunctory 
manner, and to leave to subordinates the duty of 
governing. 

Japan reached the acme of her ancient greatness 
during the Tokugawa dynasty. The arts wfiich 
have given her such a deservedly high rankatta'ned 
their greatest perfection. Keramics and lacc^uer, 
which are her most exquisite arts, achieved a de,jree 
of excellence to which we can now only look back 
with hopeless admiration. Metal-work, as shown in 
the manufacture of bronze and in the forging- and 
mounting of swords, was scarcely less notable. The 
still higher art of painting, which came to Japan 
from China, rose during the Tokugawa period to the 
rank which it still holds in the estimation of the 
artistic world. 

The best evidence, however, of the civiHzation of 
a people is found in their social condition. To learn 
the true culture of a nation it is necessary to Jiudy 
their education and literature, their laws and system 
of government, and their morals and religion* In 
some of these particulars it is still difficult to outain 
an adequate knowledge of Japan. But gradually 
they are being revealed to up The laws and (egal 



306 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

precedents ^ which prevailed during the Tokugawa 
period have been unearthed from the archives of the 
Department of Justice and are being pubHshed in 
the Transactio7is of the Asiatic Society. 

The medical and scientific advancement of Japan 
in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was not 
co-ordinate with her progress in the arts. They 
were hampered with the old Chinese notions about 
a male principle and a female principle which were 
conceived to prevail in nature, and with the five 
elements to which the human organs were supposed 
to correspond. Fortunately nature has ways of 
healing diseases in spite of theories and drugs. To 
this benign principle must be assigned the fact that 
the human race has survived the surgery and medica- 
ments of mediaeval Europe as well as mediaeval 
China and Japan. In one particular the medical 
art of Japan seems to have been differently, perhaps 
better, conducted than in Europe. It is narrated by 
the Japanese annalists,^ that if a physican made a 
mistake in his prescription or in his directions for 
taking the medicine he was punished by three years' 
imprisonment and a heavy fine ; and if there should 
be any impurity in the medicine prescribed or any 
mistake in the preparation, sixty lashes were inflicted 
besides a heavy fine. 

Three peculiar modes of medical practice deserve 

' See Asiatic Society Transactions^ vol. xx., Supplement, in which 
Prof. J. H. Wigmore has undertaken to publish the material dis= 
covered by him, vi^ith a valuable introduction on the " Administrative 
and Commercial Institutions of Old Japan." 

^ See Whitney's " Notes on Medical Progress in Japan," Asiatic 
Society Transactions^ vol. xii.,part4, p. 276. 




Oban. 



GOLD COIN, 1727, FULL SIZE. 

value about one hundred Mexican dollars. 



308 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

notice. The first was acupuncture, which consisted 
in inserting a thin needle through the skin into the 
muscles beneath. A second was the cauterization 
by moxa^ (Japanese mogusd). This was effected by 
placing over the spot a small conical wad of the 
fibrous blossoms of mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris 
latifolid). The cone was kindled at the top and 
slowly burned till it was consumed. A painful 
blister was produced on the spot, which was be- 
lieved to have a wholesome effect m the case* of 




CAUTERIZING WITH MOXA, 



many complaints. A third mode of treatment is the 
practice of massage {amina), which western nations 
have borrowed, and which in Japan it has long been 
the exclusive privilege of the blind to apply. 

Many of the improved notions of western medicine 
were introduced by the Dutch, and this accounts for 
the unprecedentedly rapid advance which this science 
has made since the opening of the country. 

^ See a description of this process in Kaempfer's History of yapan, 
and also in Whitney's " Medical Progress," Asiatic Society Transac* 
tionsy vol. xii., part 4, p. 289. 




CHAPTER XIII. 

COMMODORE PERRY AND WHAT FOLLOWED. 

The most potent cause which led to the breaking 
down of the Tokugawa Shogunate, was the attitude 
which the empire had assumed toward foreign 
nations. There were other causes which co-operated 
with this, but none which were capable of such far- 
reaching and revolutionary effects. We have seen 
that this attitude was due to the fears entertained 
concerning the designs of the Portuguese and the 
Spanish. These fears may have been unfounded, 
but they were none the less real and operative. 
Such fears may have been stimulated by the Dutch, 
who had no reason to deal tenderly with the fanatical 
enemies of the independence and religion of their 
country. The spirit of trade with large profits was 
at the bottom of the great enterprises which were 
sent out from Europe to the East and West Indies 
during the seventeenth century. 

The rivalry between the Dutch and Portuguese re^ 
suited in the banishment of the latter, and the estab- 
lishment of the Dutch at Nagasaki in 1640. They 
occupied the little artificial island of Deshima, about 
three acres in extent, where were erected their houses, 

309 



3IO THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

their offices and stores, and where for more than two 
hundred years their trade was conducted. And this, 
together with a Hke limited arrangement with the 
Chinese, was the sole foreign intercourse allowed 
with Japan. 

It is plain now that this seclusion was a great mis- 
take. It would have been of inestimable value to 
this enterprising and progressive people, to have 
kept in the race for improvement with the other 
nations of the world. They would not at this late 
day be compelled, under a dreadful strain of re- 
sources, to provide themselves with the modern 
appliances of civilization. Long since they would 
have tried the experiments with which they are now 
engaged, and would have found a way through the 
intricacies of politics to a free and stable government. 
To leyasu and his successors the way of safety 
seemed to be, to shut themselves up and sternly 
deny admittance to the outside world, while they 
continued to work out their destiny in their own 
way. 

With whatever shortcomings the Dutch are to be 
charged in their intercourse with Japan, the world 
owes a great debt of gratitude to them for what they 
accomplished. Whatever was known concerning 
Japanese history and civilization down to the times 
of Commodore Perry, came chiefly from the Dutch. 
And not less than the debt of the rest of the world 
is that of Japan herself. Although the influence of 
the government was always exerted against the 
admission of foreign ideas, not a few of the seeds of 
western civilization were by them planted in a fer- 



COMMODORE PERRY. 3II 

tile soil and bore abundant fruit. To Kaempfer 
and Baron von Siebold particularly we must always 
lo6k for our knowledge of the Japan of the days of 
its seclusion. Many efforts were made at successive 
times to open intercourse by the representatives of 
different nations. The Russians were the most per- 
sistent, and their attempts did not cease until the 
imprisonment of Captain Galowin in 181 1. In com- 
paratively recent times numerous essays were made 
resulting in disappointment. The American brig 
Morrison in 1837, the British surveying ship Saramang 
in 1845, Captain Cooper in 1845, Commodore Biddle 
in 1848, Admiral Cecille in 1848, Commander Glynn 
in 1849, ^^d Commander Matheson in the same year, 
all made efforts to communicate with the govern- 
ment, but were rebuffed. It is plain that affairs were 
rapidly verging towards a point when the isolation of 
Japan must be given up. 

Several causes contributed to the creation of a 
special interest in the United States of America, 
concerning the opening of negotiations with Japan. 
One of these was the magnitude to which the whale 
fishery had attained, and the large financial invest- 
ments * held in this industry by American citizens. 
A second cause was the opening of China to foreign 
trade as a result of the opium war. But the most 
active cause was the discovery of gold in California 
in 1848, and the consequent development of that 
state as a centre of trade. It was an early scheme 
to run a line of steamers from San Francisco to the 
newly opened ports of China. To Hongkong the 

* See Griffis' Life of Matthew Calbraitk Perry ^ p. 296. 



312 THE SrORY OF JAPAN, 

distance is about 6,149 nautical miles, and if a steamer 
is to traverse the whole distance without a break, 
she must carry an enormous load of coal. The only 
remedy lay in establishing a coaling station on the 
Japanese islands, and this could only be effected 
when Japan abandoned her policy of seclusion and 
entered with a free heart into the comity of nations. 

The interest of the government and people of the 
United States at last eventuated in the expedition 
under Commodore Matthew C. Perry. He had for 
a long time been convinced of the importance and 
feasibility of such an undertaking, and when he was 
summoned to take charge of it he made the most 
thorough preparation for his task. 

At his suggestion the government procured all 
available books, maps, and charts, and he made him- 
self master of every conceivable detail. From manu- 
facturing establishments he secured models of rail- 
ways, telegraphic lines, and other interesting industrial 
equipments. He realized the necessity of taking 
with him such a naval force that its appearance in 
Japanese waters would produce a profound impres- 
sion upon the government. And knowing that all 
his predecessors, who had sought access by way of 
Nagasaki, had been repelled, he resolved to avoid 
it and its Portuguese and Dutch traditions and ven- 
ture boldly into the bay of Yedo. 

As soon as it was known that a diplomatic expedi- 
tion was to be despatched to Japan under the com- 
mand of Commodore Perry he was deluged with 
applications, both from England and America, to be 
permitted to join it. 



COMMODORE PERRY, 313 

But Perry resolutely declined all these enterprising 
offers. In his long career as a naval officer he had 
seen the danger of admitting on board men-of-war 
persons who were not under the authority of the 
commander. From such dangers he meant to be 
free. He therefore refused to take on board the 
ships of his squadron any but regularly accredited 
officers and men over whom he exercised legitimate 
control. He even made it a rule that if any of the 
officers kept diaries during the progress of the expe- 
dition, they should be the property of the Navy 
Department and could not be published without its 
permission and authority. 

Commodore Perry carried with him a friendly 
letter from the President of the United States to the 
Emperor of Japan/ who is therein addressed as 
'■' Great and Good Friend." The letter pointed out 
the contiguity of the two countries and the import- 
ance of their friendship and commercial intercourse; 
it announced that Commodore Perry had been sent 
to give assurance of the friendly sentiment of the 
President, and to arrange for privileges of trade, for 
the care of shipwrecked sailors, and for the appoint- 
ment of a convenient port where coal and other 
supplies might be obtained by the vessels of the 
United States. 

After some provoking delays and disappointments 
the expedition sailed from Norfolk on the 24th of 

' The term emperor was employed in this letter in accordance 
with the usage of the Jesuit Fathers, the Dutch writers, and William 
Adams, all of whom designated the shdgun as emperor, although this 
term could be properly applied only to the Tenno at Kyoto. 



314 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

November, 1852/ proceeding by the way of the 
cape of Good Hope to the China sea. There taking 
on board Dr. S. Wells Williams as interpreter, and 
visiting several ports in China, the Bonin islands, 
and the Ryukyu islands, they sailed to Japan. The 
squadron, led by the Susquehanna and followed by 
the Mississippi, the Plymouth, and the Saratoga, 
entered Yedo bay, July 8, 1853.' 

The Japanese government had been warned of the 
preparation and coming of this expedition by the 
Dutch. Eager to maintain their position with the 
government the King of the Netherlands addressed 
to the Shogun a letter in 1844 suggesting the relax- 
ation of the laws excluding foreign nations from 
trade. But in the following year he received an 
answer declining to make any changes. 

With all the warning, however, which the govern- 
ment had received and the preparations which had 
been made for the momentous occasion, the appear- 
ance of the squadron at the entrance of Yedo bay 
was an intense surprise. Two large steam frigates 
— the Susquehanna and the Mississippi — and two 
sloops-of-war — the Plymouth and the Saratoga, — 
although much inferior to the squadron promised, 
composed such an array as had never before made 
its appearance in Yedo bay. As they plowed through 
the peaceful waters, in full view of the white-capped 
peak of Fuji-yama, every height and vantage ground 
along the shore seemed alive with troops and with 

* Official Narrative of the yapan Expedition, vol. i., p. 80. 

* Official Narrative of the Japan Expedition, vol. i. , p. 231, 




COMMODORE M. C. PERRY, 



315 



3l6 THE STORY OF JAP A 1^, 

wondering and alarmed inhabitants. The vessels 
came to anchor off the village of Uraga, which is not 
far from the present site of the dockyards at Yoko- 
suka. 

The account* of the preliminary negotiations con- 
ducted by Commodore Perry with the officers of the 
government is interesting, as showing the efforts made 
by them to send him to Nagasaki, and his absolute re- 
fusal to go thither or conduct his business through 
the Dutch or Chinese. When there seemed no other 
way, consent was given to receive, through an officer 
of adequate rank, the letter from the President of the 
United States to the Emperor of Japan. When he 
had formally delivered this letter, he took his de- 
parture with an intimation that he would return at 
a future day and receive the answer.* 

There can be no doubt that the display of force 
which Commodore Perry took care to make in all 
his transactions with the Japanese officials at the 
same time that he was careful to convey assurances 
of his friendly purposes and objects, produced a 
deep impression on the government with which he 
had to deal. It is useless to deny that it was on 
this display of force that Commodore Perry largely 
relied for the success of his expedition. That he 
was prepared to use force had it been necessary we 

^ See the Official Narrative of the yapan Expedition, vol i., p. 233 
et seq ; also Griffis' Life of M. C. Perry, p 314 etseq j also Bayard 
Taylor's India, China, and "jfapan, 1855, p. 411 et seq. 

2 I have received from Mr. F. S. Conover, who was a member of 
the Japan expedition as lieutenant of the navy, many interesting 
details of experiences in Yedo which I have incorporated in my 
account. 



COMMODORE PERRY, 317 

may feel sure.' But the instructions of his govern- 
ment and his own sense of international justice 
bound him to exhaust every peaceful resource be- 
fore resorting to measures of coercion. 

The government of the shogun was greatly troubled 
by this responsibility so suddenly laid upon it. They 
knew not what would be the result of their refusal 
to enter upon negotiations when Perry returned. 
The seclusion in which they had kept themselves so 
long had cut them off from a knowledge of the rela- 
tions in which the nations of the world stood to each 
other. Notwithstanding Commodore Perry's protes- 
tations of friendliness, they were afraid of his great 
ships and their powerful armaments. Should they, 
as they might easily do, make their way up the bay 
till they were within gunshot of the capital, what 
resistance could the government show, or how could 
it prevent them from battering down the castle and 
all the daimyos' residences. 

The sentiment of loyalty to the emperor and op- 
position to the shogun, which had been growing up 
so insidiously and had now become really formidable, 
was a source of the greatest perplexity to the Yedo 
government. Should they proceed with their nego- 
tiations and make a treaty with the Americans, this 
anti-shogun sentiment was ready to manifest itself 

' *' The question of landing by force was left to be decided by the 
development of succeeding events; it was of course the. very last 
measure to be resorted to, and the last that was to be desired ; but 
in order to be prepared for the worst, the Commodore caused the 
ships constantly to be kept in perfect readiness, and the crews to be 
drilled as thoroughly as they are in the time of active war."— ya/a« 
Expedition, vol. i., p. 235. 



3l8 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

against them with terrible effect. If they refused to 
negotiate, then they must be ready to meet the in- 
vaders of their soil with their miserable obsolete 
armor and with hearts that two hundred years of 
peace had rendered more obsolete than their armor. 

The first thing to be done was to consult the dai- 
myos and learn to what extent they could rely on 
their co-operation. The daimyo of Mito/ a descend- 
ant of the famous Mitsukuni, seemed to have inher- 
ited one at least of the opinions of his ancestor. 
He advocated the observance of a greater reverence 
for the emperor at Kyoto, and criticised the assump- 
tion of imperial powers by the shogun. At the 
same time he was an ardent foreign-hater, and in 
1 841 had been placed in confinement because he had 
melted down the bells of the Buddhist temples of 
his domains, and cast cannon for their protection. 
But now he was pardoned and appointed to take 
measures for the defence of the country. On the 
15th of July — the American squadron was still in 
the bay, for it left on the 17th — the daimyo of Mito 
sent in to the government a memorial "" setting forth 
his decisive views on the subject. He gave ten 
reasons against a treaty and in favor of war. We 
give them here in Mr. Nitobe's translation : 

" I. The annals of our history speak of the ex- 
ploits of the great, who planted our banners on alien 
soil ; but never was the clash of foreign arms heard 

^ See the Kinsd Shiriaku, a history of Japan from 1853 to i86g, 
translated by E. M. Satow, Yokohama, 1876. 

2 See Nitobe's Intercourse between the United States and Japan t 
p. 39. 



COMMODORE PERRY, 319 

within the precincts of our holy ground. Let not 
our generation be the first to see the disgrace of a 
barbarian army treading on the land where our 
fathers rest. 

** 2. Notwithstanding the strict interdiction of 
Christianity, there are those guilty of the heinous 
crime of professing the doctrines of this evil sect. 
If now America be once admitted into our favor, 
the rise of this faith is a matter of certainty. 

" 3. What ! Trade our gold, silver, copper, iron,, 
and sundry useful materials for wool, glass, and 
similar trashy little articles ! Even the limited bar- 
ter of the Dutch factory ought to have been stopped. 

" 4. Many a time recently have Russia and other 
countries solicited trade with us ; but they were re- 
fused. If once America is permitted the privilege, 
what excuse is there for not extending the same to 
other nations ? 

" 5. The policy of the barbarians is first to enter 
a country for trade, then to introduce their religion, 
and afterward to stir up strife and contention. Be 
guided by the experience of our forefathers two cen- 
turies back ; despise not the teachings of the Chinese 
Opium War. 

** 6. The Dutch scholars say that our people should 
cross the ocean, go to other countries and engage 
in active trade. This is all very desirable, provided 
they be as brave and strong as were their ancestors 
in olden time ; but at present the long-continued 
peace has incapacitated them for any such activity. 

" 7. The necessity of caution against the ships 
now lying in the harbor (i, e., Perry's squadron) has 



320 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

brought the v^Xxd^nt samurai to the capital from dis« 
tant quarters. Is it wise to disappoint them ? 

" 8. Not only the naval defence of Nagasaki but 
all things relating to foreign affairs have been en- 
trusted to the two clans of Kuroda and Nabeshima. 
To hold any conference with a foreign power outside 
of the port of Nagasaki — as has been done this 
time at Uraga — is to encroach upon their rights and 
trust. These powerful families will not thankfully 
accept an intrusion into their vested authority. 

" 9. The haughty demeanor of the barbarians now 
at anchorage has provoked even the illiterate popu- 
lace. Should nothing be done to show that the 
government shares the indignation of the people, 
they will lose all fear and respect for it. 

** 10. Peace and prosperity of long duration have 
enervated the spirit, rusted the armor, and blunted 
the swords of our men. Dulled to ease, when shall 
they be aroused ? Is not the present the most aus- 
picious moment to quicken their sinews of war? " 

The government sent to all the daimyos copies of 
the American letter to the shogun, and asked for 
their opinions concerning the course to be pursued. 
Many answers were immediately received. They 
almost unanimously declared against the open- 
ing of the country. Some advocated the alterna- 
tive suggested in the letter itself, to open the 
country temporarily and try the experiment for 
three years, or five years, or ten years. In the 
meantime the defences of the country and new 
and improved arms and armaments could be per- 
fected. The government did indeed busy itself 



COMMODORE PERRY, 32 1 

during Perry's absence in hurrying forward defensive 
preparations. The hne of forts which still are visible 
in the shallow water of the bay opposite Shinagawa, 
the southern suburb of the capital, were hastily con- 
structed. Bells from monasteries and metal articles 
of luxury were melted down and cast into cannon. 
Lessons were given and became quickly fashionable 
in the use of European small-arms and artillery^ 
The military class from the various clans flocked to 
Yedo^and Kyoto in large numbers, expecting to be 
called upon to defend their country against the 
impudent intrusion of the barbarians. 

During this busy time of perplexity and prepa- 
ration the Shogun leyoshi, — the twelfth of the 
Tokugawa dynasty — died August 25, 1853. His son 
lesada succeeded him as the thirteenth shogun. 
The death of the reigning shogun did not produce 
any marked effect upon the policy of the govern- 
ment. Long before this time the custom of abdi- 
cation, and the habits of luxury and effeminacy in 
which the family of the shogun was reared, had 
dragged the house down to the usual impotent level. 
The government was conducted by a system of 
bureaucracy which relieved the titular shoguns from 
all responsibility and allowed them to live in profit- 
less voluptuousness. So that one died and another 
reigned in his stead without causing more than a 
ripple upon the surface of current events. 

Shortly after the departure of the American 
squadron from Yedo bay, the Russian Admiral Pon- 
tiatine appeared in the harbor of Nagasaki, and 
made application for a national agreement to open 



322 THE SrORY OF JAPAN, 

ports for trade, to adjust the boundary line between 
the two nations across the island of Saghalien, and 
to live in neighborly intimacy. English vessels 
were also in Chinese waters watching the Russians, 
and the war, usually called the Crimean war, actually 
broke out in the spring of 1854. A visit from these 
vessels might therefore be expected at any time. 

Commodore Perry during the interval between 
his two visits to Japan sailed to the ports of China 
where the Taiping rebellion was then inaction." The 
confusion and insecurity occasioned by this uprising 
rendered the presence of the squadron most accept- 
able to the American merchants. 

On the 13th of February, 1854, he made his ap- 
pearance a second time in Yedo bay with a fleet of 
seven ships, viz., three steam frigates and four sloops- 
of-war. Three additional vessels were to join, and 
did join, the fleet in Yedo bay. So that when the 
fleet was all mustered there were ten fully armed 
vessels, comprising such an array as had never be- 
fore appeared in Japanese waters. 

After some haggling about the place where the 
negotiations should be conducted, it was finally set- 
tled that the place of meeting should be at Kana- 
gawa, near the village (now the city) of Yokohama. 
Here after much deliberation and discussion, pro^ 
posals and amendments, banquets and presents, a 
treaty was agreed upon. The signing and exchange 
took place on the 31st of March, 1854. It was im- 
mediately sent to Washington for ratification. 

As this was the first formal treaty' made with 

' See Treaties and Conventions between Ja;pan and Other Powers^ 
p. 735. 



COMMODORE PERRY. 323 

any western country we give a synopsis of its pro- 
visions. 

Art. I. Peace and amity to exist between the 
two countries. 

Art. II. The port of Shimoda to be opened im- 
mediately and the port of Hakodate to be opened 
in one year, and American ships to be supplied with 
necessary provisions in them. 

Art. III. Shipwrecked persons of either nation to 
be cared for, and expenses to be refunded. 

Art. IV. Shipwrecked and other persons not to 
be imprisoned but to be amenable to just laws. 

Art. V. Americans at Shimoda and Hakodate 
not to be subject to confinement ; free to go about 
within defined limits. 

Art. VI. Further deliberation to be held be= 
tween the parties to settle concerning trade and 
matters requiring to be arranged. 

Art. VII. Trade in open ports to be subject to 
such regulations as the Japanese government shall 
establish. 

Art. VIII. Wood, water, provisions, coal, etc., 
to be procured only through appointed Japanese 
officers. 

Art. IX. If at any future day privileges in addi- 
tion to those here enumerated are granted to an), 
other nation, the same to be allowed to Ameri. 
cans. 

Art. X. Ships of the United States not to resort 
to other ports than Shimoda and Hakodate except 
in stress of weather. 

Art. XI. Consuls or agents of the United States 
to reside at Shimoda. 



324 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

Art. XII. The ratification of this treaty to be 
exchanged within eighteen months. 

As might have been expected, as soon as this 
treaty with the United States had been signed there 
was a rush of other nations to obtain similar terms. 
Admiral Sir John Sterling, acting in behalf of the 
government of Great Britain, negotiated a treaty 
which was signed at Nagasaki on the 15th of Octo- 
ber, 1854. Admiral Pontiatine negotiated a similar 
treaty for Russia, which was signed at Shimoda on 
the 7th of February, 1855. A treaty with the 
Netherlands was signed on the 30th of January, 
1856. 

None of these were in any general sense commer- 
cial treaties, providing for trade and making regula- 
tions by which it might be conducted. They were 
rather preHminary conventions, making arrangements 
for vessels to obtain necessary provisions, and stipu- 
lating for the protection of those suffering shipwreck, 
and for vessels driven under stress of weather to take 
shelter in the harbors of Japan. They each provided 
for admission to two ports : The American treaty to 
Shimoda and Hakodate; the English treaty to 
Nagasaki and Hakodate; the Russian treaty to 
Shimoda and Hakodate. 

All these treaties contained what is called " the 
most favored nation clause," so that where the 
privileges granted to any one nation were in excess 
of those granted previously to others, these privileges 
were also witho.ut further negotiation extended to 
the nations that had already made treaties. 



COMMODORE FERRY. 325 

These dealings with foreign nations produced the 
most intense excitement throughout the empire. 
The old sentiment of hostility to foreign intercourse 
showed itself in unmistakable intensity. The song of 
the Black Ship, by which term the vessels of foreign 
nations were designated, was heard everywhere. Two 
distinct parties came into existence called the Jo-i 
party, who wished to expel the barbarians ; and the 
Kai-koku party, who were in favor of opening the 
country.' The members of the latter party were 
principally connected with the shogun's government, 
and had become impressed with the folly of trying 
to resist the pressure of the outside world. The Jo-i 
party was made up of the conservative elements in 
the country, who clung to the old traditions of 
Japan that had matured during the two centuries of 
the Tokugawa rule. Besides these conservatives 
there was also a party who nourished a traditional 
dislike to the Tokugawa family, and was glad to see 
it involved in difficulties which were sure to bring 
down upon it the vengeance of the nation. These 
were chiefly found among the southwestern daimiates 
such as Satsuma, Choshu, Hizen, and Tosa. The 
daimyo of Mito' although connected with the 
shogun's family was bitterly hostile to the policy of 
holding any friendly relations with foreigners. He 
was therefore regarded as the head of the Jo-i party, 
and many of the disaffected samurai rallied about 
him as their champion and leader. 

' See the Constitutional Development of Japan^ by Toyokichi 
lyenaga, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins Press, 1 891, p. 12. 
' See p. 279. 



326 THE STORY OF JAP A I^. 

It was charged against the shSgun that in making 
treaties with foreign nations he had transcended the 
powers ' that rightly belonged to him. He was not 
the sovereign of Japan and never had been. He 
was only the chief executive under the emperor, 
and was not even next in rank to the emperor. It 
was impossible, therefore, that treaties made by 
the shogun and not ratified by his sovereign 
should be regarded by the Japanese as legitimate 
and binding. 

The question of the legality of the treaties which 
the shogun had made was an important one, and in- 
terested not only the Japanese themselves but the 
foreigners whose privileges under these treaties were 
at stake. There is no doubt that Commodore Perry 
as well as all the subsequent negotiators, beheved 
that in making treaties with the shogun they were 
dealing with a competent authority. The precedents 
occurring in the history of Japan seemed all to bear 
in this direction. The Portuguese and the Spanish 
had dealt with the shogun and never with the em- 
peror. The Dutch had received from leyasu the 
privileges of trade and had ever since continued 
under the shogun's protection. Captain Saris in his 
negotiations in 1614 received written assurances of 
protection and privileges of trade from the shogun. 

' See selections from a pamphlet by a German resident at Yoko- 
hama given in Mossman's Nezv yapan, pp. 142, 143, and quoted in 
Nicohe's Intercourse between the United States and yapan. " The 
reason the Tycoon breaks his promise is because he cannot keep it, 
and the reason He cannot keep it, is because he had no right to 
2ive it." 



COMMODORE PERRY, 327 

It was because the shogun's power had become 
w^eakened, and there had grown up an active senti- 
ment against him, that the question in reference to 
his legitimate authority arose. " Had the treaty " 
(with Perry) " been concluded when the power of 
Yedo was at its former height, it is probable that no 
questions would have been asked." ^ 

According to the terms of the treaty made with 
the United States it was provided that a consul 
should be appointed " to reside at Shimoda at any 
time after the expiration of eighteen months from 
the signing the treaty." In execution of this pro- 
vision the United States government sent out 
Townsend Harris, who arrived in August, 1856. 
After some hesitation he was allowed to take up his 
residence at Shimoda. He was a man of great 
patience and tact, and gradually urged his way into 
the confidence of the government. He became the 
counsellor and educator of the officials in every- 
thing pertaining to foreign affairs. He was received 
December 7, 1857, by the shogun with the ceremony 
due to his new rank of plenipotentiary which he 
had then received.'' In a despatch, dated July 8, 
1858, he tells of a severe illness which he had suf- 

' See Nitobe's Intercourse between the United States and Japan, 

P- 59. 

"^ Prince Hotta was at this time president of the Council of State 
{Gorojiu) and had charge of this first audience. I have seen in the 
possession of his descendant, the present occupant of the beautiful 
family yashiki in Tdkyo, the original of the memorandum showing 
the arrangement of the rooms through which Mr. Harris was to pass, 
and the position where he was to stand during the delivery of his 
congratulatory remarks. 



328 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

fered ; how the shogun sent two physicians to attend 
him, and when a bulletin was sent to Yedo that his 
case was hopeless, the physicians " received peremp- 
tory orders to cure me, and if I died they would 
themselves be in peril." 

The principal effort of Mr. Harris was the negotia- 
tion of a commercial treaty which should make pro- 
vision for the maintenance of trade in specified ports 
of Japan. The treaties already made by Japan with 
foreign nations only provided for furnishing vessels 
with needed supplies, and for the protection of ves- 
sels driven by stress of weather and of persons ship- 
wrecked on the Japanese islands. It remained to 
agree upon terms, which should be mutually advan- 
tageous, for the regular opening of the ports for 
trade and for the residence at these ports of the 
merchants engaged in trade. 

The excitement occasioned by the steps already 
taken rendered the shogun's government exceedingly 
reluctant to proceed further in this direction. It 
was only after much persuasion, and with a desire 
to avoid appearing to yield to the appearance of 
force ' with which the English were about to urge 
the negotiation of a commercial treaty, that at last, 

' In a despatch to the Secretary of State, dated November 25, 
1856, Mr. Harris explains the condition of the negotiations in refer- 
ence to a commercial treaty. He narrates his interview at Hongkong 
with Sir John Bowring, ^n\vo told him that he was empowered to 
negotiate a commercial treaty. Mr. Harris shrewdly observes : "I 
shall call their (the Japanese government's) attention to the fact that 
by making a treaty with me they would save the point of honor that 
must arise from their apparently yielding to the force that backs the 
plenipotentiary and not to the justice of their demands." 



COMMODORE PERRY, 329 

on the 17th of June, 1857, a treaty *' for the purpose 
of further regulating the intercourse of American 
citizens within the empire of Japan " was duly con- 
cluded. The port of Nagasaki was to be opened in 
addition to those already stipulated. American citi- 
zens were to be permitted to reside at Shimoda and 
Hakodate for the purpose of supplying the wants 
of the vessels which visited there. 

This does not seem to have been adequate, for 
only about a year later a further treaty, revoking 
that of June, 1857, was arranged. It was signed at 
Yedo on the 29th of July, 1858. Equivalent treaties 
were negotiated by other nations, and it was under the 
terms of these that intercourse between Japan and 
the nations of Europe and America was conducted un- 
til 1894. They provided for the opening of the ports 
of Ni-igata and Hyogo, and for the closing of 
Shimoda, which had been found unsuitable, and the 
opening in its place of Kanagawa.^ They fixed dates 
for the opening of the cities of Yedo and Osaka, and 
provided for the setting apart of suitable concessions 
in each of them for residence and trade. They pro- 
vided that all cases of litigation in which foreigners 
were defendants should be tried in the consular court 
of the nation to which the defendant belonged, and all 
cases in which Japanese citizens were defendants 

^ Although Kdiiagavva was made an open port for trade by these 
treaties, the adjoining village of Yokohama was found practically 
better suited for the purpose. The very proximity of Kanagawa to the 
Tdkaidd,y^\i\Q}cL led foreigners to prefer it when the treaties were made, 
proved to be an objection in the disordered times that followed. On 
this account Yokohama rapidly rose to the importance which it still 
holds. 



330 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

should be tried in Japanese courts. They fixed the 
limits within which foreigners at any of the treaty 
ports could travel, but permitted the diplomatic 
agent of any nation to travel without limitation. 
They prohibited the importation of opium. Com- 
mercial regulations were attached to the treaties and 
made a part of them, which directed that a duty of 
five/^r ce7ituin should be paid on all goods imported 
into Japan for sale, except that on intoxicating 
liquors a duty of thirty-five per centum should be 
exacted. All articles ,of Japanese production ex- 
ported were to pay a duty of ^v^ per centum, except 
gold and silver coin and copper in bars. These trade 
regulations stipulated that five years after the open- 
ing of Kanagawa the export and import duties should 
be subject to revision at the desire of either party. 
The treaties themselves provide that on and after 
1872 either of the contracting parties may demand a 
revision of the same upon giving one year's notice 
of its desire. 

These stipulations in reference to a revision of the 
treaties, and especially of the tariff of duties to be 
paid on imported goods,were a source of great anxiety 
and concern to the Japanese government. The small 
duty of five/^r centum, which it was permitted to col- 
lect on the goods imported, was scarcely more than 
enough to maintain the machinery of collection. 
And while the initiative is given to it to ask for 
a revision of the treaties, it was not able for many 
years to obtain the consent of the principal nations 
concerned to any change in the original hard 
terms. 



COMMODORE PERR V. 3 3 1 

Another provision in the treaties which was the 
occasion of endless debate was that which required all 
foreigners to remain under the jurisdiction of the con- 
suls of their respective countries. It was claimed on 
the part of the Japanese that this provision, which had 
been reasonable when the treaties were first made, 
had ceased to be just or necessary. The laws were so 
far perfected, their judges and officers had been so edu- 
cated, and the machinery of their courts had been so far 
conformed to European practice that it was no longer 
reasonable that foreigners residing in Japan should be 
under other than Japanese jurisdiction. From 1872 
until 1894 Japanese statesmen patiently presented to 
the Powers evidence that Japan was prepared to 
assure civilized jurisdiction over foreigners, but not 
until after her victory over China had demonstrated 
her military force did the majority of the nations 
acknowledge her capability in civilized government. 

Any one who reads the diplomatic correspondence 
covering this period will see how serious were the 
troubles with which the country was called upon to 
deal. He will realize also how almost impossible it 
was for the diplomatic representatives of the western 
powers to comprehend the difficulties of the situation 
or know how to conduct the affairs of their legations 
with justice and consideration. 

A succession of murders and outrages occurred, 
which awakened the fears of the foreign residents. 
It is plain enough now that this state of things was 
not so much due to the want of effort on the part of 
the government to carry out its agreements with 
foreign nations, as to the bitter and irreconcilable 



332 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

party hatred which had sprung up in consequence of 
these efforts. The feudal organization of the gov- 
ernment, by which the first allegiance was due to 
the daimyo, rendered the condition of things more 
demoralized. It was an old feudal custom, when- 
ever the retainers of a daimyo wished to avenge any 
act without committing their lord, they withdrew 
from his service and became ronins. Most of the 
outrages which occurred during the years intervening 
between the formation of the treaties and the resto- 
ration were committed by these masterless men. 
Responsibility for them was disclaimed by the dai- 
myos, and the government of Yedo was unable to ex- 
tend its control over these wandering swash-bucklers. 
There was no course for the foreign ministers to 
pursue but to hold the shogun's government respon- 
sible for the protection of foreigners and foreign 
trade. This government, which was called the 
bakufu,^ had made the treaties with the foreign 
powers, as many claimed, without having adequate 
authority, and had thus assumed to be supreme in 
matters of foreign intercourse. It was natural 
therefore that the representatives of the treaty 
powers should look to the bakiifu for the security 
of those who had come hither under the sanction of 
these treaties. 

It was in consequence a bloody time through 



' The word means Curtain Government, in reference to the curtain 
with which the camp of a general was surrounded. The term is 
equivalent to Military Government, and is used to designate the 
shdgun's as distinguished from the emperor's court. 



COMMODORE PERRY, 333 

which the country was called to pass. The prime 
minister and the head of the bakufu party was li 
Kamon-no-kami,' the daimyo of Hikone in the prov- 
ince of Mino. On account of the youth of the 
shogun he was created regent. He was a man of 
great resolution and unscrupulous in the measures 
by which he attempted to carry out the policy to 
which he was committed. By his enemies he, was 
called the " swaggering prime minister {bakko genro).'" 
Assured that the foreign treaties could not be abro- 
gated without dangerous collisions with foreign 
nations, he sought to crush the opposition which 
assailed them. The daimyo of Mito, who had been 
the head of the anti-foreign party at Yedo, he com- 
pelled to resign and confined him to his private 
palace in his province. Numerous other persons who 
had busied themselves with interfering with his 
schemes and in promoting opposition in Kyoto, he 
also imprisoned. 

Suddenly on the 23d of March, i860, li Kamon- 
no-kami was assassinated as he was being carried in 
his noriinoito from his yashiki outside the Sakurada 
gate to the palace of the shogun. 

The assassins were eighteen ronins of the province 
of Mito, who wished to avenge the imprisonment of 
their prince. They carried the head of the murdered 
regent to the Mito castle, and after exhibiting it to 
the gloating eyes of the prince, exposed it upon a 
pike at the principal gate. 

' See The Life of li Naosuke, by Shimada Saburo, Tokyo, 1888 ; 
also the Constitutional Development of Japan, by Toyokichi lyenaga, 
Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University, 1891, p. 15. 



334 TliE STORY OF JAPAN. 

The death of the regent was an irreparable blow 
to the government. There was no one who could 
take his place and assume his role. His loss must 
be reckoned as one of the principal events which 
marked the decadence of the shogun's power. 




WRESTLERS. 
(From R6gainey's ^ r^" and Industry) 



CHAPTER XIV. 

REVOLUTIONARY PRELUDES. 

The outrages which now succeeded each other 
with terrible frequency were not confined to the 
native members of the opposing parties. Foreigners, 
who were so essentially the cause of the political 
disturbances in Japan, were particularly exposed to 
attacks. On the 14th of January, 1861, Mr. Heus- 
ken, the secretary and interpreter of the American 
legation, when riding home at night from the Prus- 
sian legation in Yedo, was attacked by armed 
assassins and mortally wounded. The object of this 
murder is supposed to have been the desire of one 
of the ministers of foreign affairs to take revenge on 
Mr. Heusken,^ for his activity in promoting foreign 
intercourse. 

The weakness and the fears of the government 

' Mr. Heusken who had gone to Japan with Mr. Townsend Harris 
in 1858 was a Hollander by birth. The Dutch language at that time 
was almost the only medium through which communication could be 
had with the Japanese. A native interpreter turned the sentiment 
into Dutch, and then a person who understood both Dutch and Eng- 
lish translated it into the latter tongue. This circuitous system of in- 
terpretation was, however, soon remedied by native scholars learning 
English, and by English and American scholars learning Japanese, 



33^ THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

were shown by the warning, which they sent to the 
foreign ministers to avoid attending the funeral of 
Mr. Heusken, lest further outrages might be com- 
mitted. They did attend, however, and no disturb- 
ances occurred. It only remains to mention that 
Mr. Harris subsequently made an arrangement with 
the government for the payment of an indemnity ' 
of $10,000 to the mother of Mr. Heusken, who was 
then living at Amsterdam in Holland. 

The next circumstance which awakened universal 
attention was an attack made on the British legation, 
on the night of the 5th of July, 1861. At this time 
the British minister occupied as a legation the build- 
ings of the temple Tozenji, situated at Takanawa in 
the city of Yedo. It was guarded by a company of 
Japanese troops, to whom the government had en- 
trusted its protection. Mr. Alcockhad just returned 
by an overland journey from Nagasaki, and with a 
number of other Englishmen was domiciled in the 
legation. The attacking party consisted of fourteen 
ronins belonging to the Mito clan, who had banded 
themselves together to take vengeance on the *' ac- 
cursed foreigners." Several of the guards were 
killed, and Mr. Oliphant,' the secretary of legation, 
and Mr. Morrison, H. B. M's consul at Nagasaki, 
were severely wounded. On one of the party who 
was captured was found a paper,^ which set forth 

' See American Diplomatic Correspondence, November 27, 1861. 

* A full account of this affair may be found in Alcock's Capital of 
the Tycoon, and in the Life of Latirence Oliphant, 

* A translation of this paper cited from the correspondence pre- 
sented to Parliament is given in Adams' History of Japan, vol. i., 
p. 138. 



REVOLUTIONARY PRELUDES. 337 

the object of the attack and the names of the four- 
teen ronins who had conspired for its accomplish- 
ment. 

That the government regarded such outrages with 
alarm is certain. They took the earhest opportunity 
to express their distress that the legation under their 
protection had thus been invaded. They assured 
Mr. Alcock with the most pitiable sincerity that 
" they had no power of preventing such attacks upon 
the legation, nor of providing against a renewal of 
the same with a greater certainty of success." *' They 
could not," they said, *' guarantee an}^ of the repre- 
sentatives against these attempts at assassination, to 
which all foreigners in Japan were liable, whether in 
their houses or in the public thoroughfares." ' They 
pretended to punish, and yet were afraid openly to 
punish the persons engaged in this attack.^ They 
promised to do what they could for the protection 
of the foreign representatives ; but their measures 
necessarily consisted in making the legations a kind 
of prison where the occupants were confined and 
protected. 

And yet, with all these assurances of danger, the 
foreign representatives seem to have been singularly 
ignorant of the real difficulties with which the govr 
ernment had to deal. This was due, no doubt, to 
the want of candor on the part of the Japanese offi- 
cials in not ex^aining frankly and fully to them the 

^ See Adams' History of Japan, vol, i., p. 139. 

^ In Mr. Satow's translation of Kin sS Shir iaku (p. 1 3) it is said 
that the bakufu ordered the house of Mito to arrest the men who had 
broken into the English temple residence, but they made their escape 
into Oshiu and Dewa. 



338 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

political complications which existed between the 
governments of Yedo and Kyoto. They represented 
a widespread discontent to have grown up since the 
negotiation of the treaties, owing to the increased 
price of provisions, the derangement of the currency, 
and the danger of famine. In view of these pressing 
difficulties they asked for the postponement of the 
time fixed by the treaties for opening a port on the 
western coast and Hyogo on the Inland sea, and for 
the establishment of definite concessions in the cities 
of Yedo and Osaka. These modifications of the 
treaties were finally accepted, and it was arranged 
that the opening of the ports named above should 
be postponed for a period of five years from the first 
of January, 1863. 

This postponement of the opening of the ports 
was the chief reason for sending to foreign countries 
their first embassy. This set out from Yokohama 
in January, 1862, and visited the United States, then 
England, and the other treaty powers. They were 
everywhere received with the utmost kindness and 
distinction. The immediate object of their mission 
was, as we have seen, accomplished. The opening 
of additional ports was deferred on condition that 
in those already opened the obstacles which had 
been put in the way of trade should be removed. 

But, besides the attainment of this end, the visit 
of the embassy to foreign capitals-" and -countries 
produced a salutary influence both on the foreigners 
whom they met and on the influential personages 
of which it consisted. The former learned to their 
surprise that they had a cultivated, intelligent, and 



REVOLUTIONARY PRELUDES, 339 

clever race to deal with, whose diplomatists/ al- 
though inexperienced in European politics, were 
not unqualified to enter the courts of western 
capitals. But the revelation to the Japanese envoys 
was still greater and more surprising. For the first 
time they saw the terrible armaments of western 
powers, and realized the futility of attempting to 
mxake armed resistance to their measures. But they 
encountered on every hand not hatred and aversion, 
but the warmest interest and kindness,^ and a desire 
to render them every courtesy. Instead of bar- 
barians, as they had been taught to regard all 
foreigners, they found everywhere warm-hearted and 
intelligent friends who were anxious to see their 
country treated with justice and consideration. 

On the 26th of June, 1862, a year after the first, 
a second attack was made upon the British legation. 
Lieutenant-Colonel Neale was at this time charge 
d'affaires, and had just removed from Yokohama 
and resumed the occupancy of the temple of To- 
zenji. The government took the precaution to 
establish guards, who daily and nightly made their 
rounds to protect the buildings. Besides this there 
was a guard detailed from the British fleet to ren- 
der the legation more secure. The officials persisted 
in claiming that only one person, Ito Gumpei, was 
engaged in the attack, and that it was a matter of 

' See the account of the negotiations of this embassy with Earl 
Russell in Adams' History of yapan^ vol. i., p. 177 et seq. 

'^ One of the officials naively told the American minister when 
speaking of the reception of the embassy in the United States : 
"We did not believe you when you told us of the friendly feeling of 
your country for us ; but we now see that all you said was true." 



340 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

private revenge for an insult which one of the Eng- 
lish guards had put upon him. Two of these guards 
were killed in the attack, and Ito Gumpei the assas- 
sin escaped to his own house, where he was permit- 
ted to commit hara-kiri. There was probably no 
plot on the part of those whose duty it was to pro- 
tect the legation. But the uncertainty which hung 
over the affair, and the repetition of the violence of 
the preceding year led Colonel Neale to abandon 
his residence at Yedo and return to Yokohama. An 
indemnity of ^10,000 was demanded and finally 
paid for the families of the two members of the 
guard who had been murdered. 

In the meantime the relations between the courts 
at Kyoto and Yedo had become more and more 
strained. The efforts at reconciliation, such as the 
marriage between the young shogun and the sister 
of the emperor in 1861, produced no permanent ef- 
fect. The disease was too deep-seated and serious 
to be affected by such palliations. Shimazu Saburo, 
the uncle ' and guardian of the young daimyo of 
Satsuma, came in 1862 to Kyoto with the avowed 
purpose of advising the emperor in this emergency. 
He was accompanied by a formidable body of 
Satsuma troops, and on these he relied to have his 
advice followed. 

On his way thither he had been joined by a body 
of ronins who were contemplating the accomplish- 
ment of some enterprise which should be notable in 

' The daimyo was really his own son who had been adopted by his 
brother, the former daimyo, and who on the death of his brother had 
succeeded him as daimyd. Shimazu Saburo was therefore legally 
the uncle of his own son. 



REVOLUTIONARY PRELUDES. 34 1 

the expulsion of foreigners. They imagined that 
the powerful head of the Satsuma clan would be a 
suitable leader for such an enterprise. They ap- 
proached him therefore and humbly petitioned to 
be received under his standard. Not quite satisfied 
to have such a band of reckless ruffians under his 
command, he, however, scarcely dared to refuse 
their petition. He therefore permitted them to 
join his escort and march with him to Kyoto. 

The emperor's court, although bitterly hostile to 
the liberal policy which prevailed at Yedo, were 
alarmed by the desperate allies which Shimazu was 
bringing with him. He presented their memorial to 
the emperor, and favored their wishes to use all the 
force of the country to dislodge the hated foreigner 
from its soil. Other powerful daimyos were col- 
lected at the same time at the imperial capital, and 
its peaceful suburbs resounded with the clank of 
warlike preparations. The most notable of these 
was the daimyo of Choshu, who at this time was 
joined with the Satsuma chief in the measures 
against the shogun's government. 

Shimazu continued his journey to Yedo in the 
summer of 1862, where he endeavored to impress on 
the bakufu the necessity of taking measures to 
pacify the country. It is safe to say that his sug- 
gestions were coldly received, and he was made to 
feel that he was in an enemy's camp. It is said that 
the shogun refused to receive him personally, but 
referred him, for any business which he had to pre- 
sent, to the council. It is certain, therefore, when 
he left Yedo in September, 1862, with his train and 



342 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

escort, he was in no amiable frame of mind. And it 
was in this condition of irritation that he became 
the chief actor in an event which was the saddest 
of all the collisions between the Japanese and the 
foreigners. 

The Satsuma train left Yedo on the morning of 
the 14th of 5eptember by way of the Tokaido, which 
runs through Kawasaki and skirts the village of 
Kanagawa. It consisted of a semi-military proces- 
sion of guards on foot and on horseback, of nori- 
nionos, in which the prince and his high military and 
civil attendants were carried, of led-horses for them 
to ride when they desired, and of a long straggling 
continuation of pack-horses and men carrying the 
luggage of the train. It was said to contain not less 
than eight hundred sanmrai in attendance on their 
master. 

The etiquette of the road for such trains was well 
settled in feudal Japan. The right of way was 
always accorded to the dairnyo, and all unmilitary 
persons or parties were required to stand at the side 
of the road while the train was passing, to dismount 
if on horseback, and to bow to the daimyo's normiono 
as it was carried past. It may be supposed that the 
samurai in attendance upon the incensed Shimazu 
were in no humor to have these rules trifled with, 
and especially would not deal very tenderly with 
any foreigners who might fall in their way. 

On the afternoon of the day on which the Satsuma 
train left Yedo, a small riding party left Yokohama 
for the village of Kawasaki, on a visit to the temple 
at that place. It consisted of one lady and three 



REVOLUTIONARY PRELUDES. 343 

gentlemen, one of whom was Mr. Charles L. Rich- 
ardson, who had for many years been a merchant at 
Shanghai, but who was visiting Japan previous to 
his return to England. A few miles north of the 
village of Kanagawa they encountered the head of 
the train, and for some distance passed successive 
parts of it. They were either ignorant of the eti- 
quette which required them to withdraw during the 
passage of such a cavalcade, or underrated the dan- 
ger of disregarding it. 

Presently they came upon the troop which had 
special charge of the norimono in which the prince 
was carried. It was surrounded by a formidable 
body of retainers, armed with swords and spears. 
The reckless riders paid little heed to their scowling 
looks, and rode carelessly on, sometimes even thread- 
ing their way through the interstices of the strag- 
gling train. When they were nearly opposite to 
the prince's noriinono^ which they were about to pass 
without dismounting or saluting, they were so 
alarmed by the evidences of danger that one of the 
gentlemen called out to Mr. Richardson who was 
riding ahead, " Don't go on, we can turn into a side 
road." The other also exclaimed, " For God's sake 
let us have no row." Richardson, who was foolhardy 
and ignorant of those with whom he had to deal, 
answered, " Let me alone, I have lived fourteen 
years in China and know how to manage these people." 
Suddenly a soldier from the centre of the procession 
rushed upon them with a heavy two-handed sword 
and struck Richardson a fatal blow on his side under 
the left arm. Both the other gentlemen were also 



344 ^-^^ STORY OF JAPAN, 

severely wounded, and the lady had her bonnet 
knocked off by a blow aimed at her, but escaped un- 
hurt. They all started at full speed towards home, 
riding over the Japanese guards who undertook to 
interfere. All except Richardson reached Kanagawa 
without further hurt ; he after riding a few rods fell 
from his horse and died from the effect of his 
terrible wound.' 

The excitement in the town was intense. There 
was a proposition to organize immediately a force 
and pursue after the train, in order to capture the 
murderer and the Satsuma chief. It was with no 
small effort and with the almost unanimous senti- 
ment of the foreign community against him, that 
Colonel Neale, the British chargS d'affaires, re- 
strained them from an act which would have brought 
quick vengeance upon the town and involved Great 
Britain in a war with Japan. A demand was made 
upon the government for the capture and punish- 
ment of the assassin of Mr. Richardson, and for the 
payment of an indemnity of ^100,000, by the 
shogun's government and an additional sum by 
the daimyo of Satsuma. 

Neither the surrender of the assassin nor the pay- 
ment of this indemnity was willingly undertaken by 
Satsuma. It ended therefore in Admiral Kuper 
being despatched with a squadron of seven vessels to 

' Dr. J. C. Hepburn, a resident in Kanagawa at this time, attended 
to the wounded men at the U. S. Consulate. In a letter to me after 
reading the above account, he says that, " it was the common report 
at the time that Richardson did ride into Satsuma's train and that he 
(Satsuma) said, ' Kill him.' It was the general belief that Richard- 
son brought the whole catastrophe on himself." 



REVOLUTIONARY PRELUDES. 345 

Kagoshima in order to enforce on the recalcitrant 
daimyo the terms agreed upon with the government 
at Yedo. He arrived on the nth of August, 1863, 
and was received with frowning batteries and a 
terrible typhoon of wind and rain. Negotiation 
failed to effect a settlement and the naval force was 
called upon to play its part. Three valuable new 
steamers, which the daimyo had recently purchased, 
were captured and burned. The batteries which 
lined the shore were dismantled by the guns of the 
ships. The city of Kagoshima, said to have had at 
this time a population of 180,000 and to have been 
one of the most prosperous towns in Japan, was 
almost completely destroyed by fire. After this 
drastic lesson the money demanded was paid, but 
the murderer of Richardson was not and probably 
could not be surrendered, and never has been publicly 
known. 

The most important result which followed this 
severe experience was its moral effect on the Satsuma 
leaders. They had become convinced that western 
skill and western equipments of war were not to be 
encountered by the antiquated methods of Japan. 
To contend with the foreigner on anything like 
equal terms it would be necessary to acquire his 
culture and dexterity, and avail themselves of his 
ships and armaments. It was not long after this 
therefore, that the first company of Japanese students' 

* In addition to Terashima there were in the company Mori Arinori, 
Yoshida Kiyonari, Hatakeyama Yoshinari, and others. They became 
deeply imbued with the spirit of western institutions and with the 
principles of constitutional liberty and toleration. Their influence 



346 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

were sent to London under the late Count Terashlma 
by the daimyo of Satsuma, and the purchase of 
cannon and ships of war was authorized. 

In the meantime another coUision still more serious 
had occurred with the treaty powers. The daimyo 
of Choshu had, as we have seen, taken sides with the 
court of Kyoto against the more liberal policy of the 
shogun's government. He had placed men-of-war 
as guards and had erected batteries within his terri- 
tory on the shores of the Shimonoseki straits through 
which ships usually passed on their way to and from 
the western ports. It is claimed, and is not im- 
probable, that he was encouraged by the Kyoto 
statesmen to attack foreign ships on their way 
through these narrow straits, in order to embroil the 
Yedo government with the treaty powers. 

Accordingly on the 25th of June, 1863 the Pem- 
broke, a small American merchant steamer on her 
way from Yokohama to Nagasaki was fired upon by 
two men-of-war belonging to the daimyo of Choshu. 
She was not hit or hurt and escaped through the 
Bungo channel without injury. Shortly after- 
wards, on the 8th of July, the French gunboat Kien- 
chang while at anchor in the straits, was also fired 
upon and severely injured. And lastly the Dutch 

upon the new career of their country was marked and salutary. 
Through the agency of Mr'. Laurence Oliphant a part of them became 
misled with the delusions of Thomas Lake Harris, and with him re- 
moved to Brocton on the shores of Lake Erie, U. S. where they resided 
for a time as members of the Brotherhood of the New Life. They had 
as associates in this singular community Lady Oliphant and her dis- 
tinguished son, and like them were called upon to perform the ordinary 
menial employments connected with the community. 



REVOLUTIONARY PRELUDES. 347 

ship-of-war Medusa, in spite of a warning from the 
Ktenchang, undertook to pass the straits and was 
fired upon by the ships and batteries of the daimyo 
of Choshu, to which she responded with decisive 
effect. 

News of these hostile acts was brought immedi- 
ately to Yokohama. The U. S. Steamship Wyoming 
was lying there, and was at once despatched to 
avenge the insult to the American flag. She arrived 
at Shimonoseki on July i6th, and in a conflict with 
ships and batteries sunk a brig and exploded the 
boiler of a steamer. On the 20th inst. the French 
frigate Semiramis and the gunboat Tancrede under 
the command of Admiral Juares arrived to exact 
vengeance for the attack on the Kienchang, One of 
the batteries was silenced, and a force of two hun- 
dred and fifty men were landed who destroyed what 
remained. 

These acts of signal vengeance were followed by 
negotiations for damages. The shogun's govern- 
ment disavowed the actions of their rebellious 
subordinate ; but this did not free them from 
responsibility for the injuries which he had inflicted. 
The American minister secured the payment of 
twelve thousand dollars for alleged losses by the 
Pembroke, although as we have seen the vessel got 
off without any damage. Negotiations in regard to 
freeing the Inland sea from obstructions dragged 
along for almost a year. The bakiifu promised to 
take measures to reduce to a peaceful attitude the 
daimyo of Choshu whose territories bordered on the 
narrow straits of Shimonoseki. But the growing 



348 THE SrORY OF JAPAN, 

political disturbances of the nation and the impover- 
ishment of the shogun's treasury made it impossible 
to carry out its pacific designs. 

Finally an expedition was organized by the treaty 
powers to visit Shimonoseki, in order to destroy 
whatever might be in existence there. It consisted 
of nine British' ships-of-war, four Dutch, three 
French, and one steamer, chartered for the occasion 
to represent the United States.'^ It sailed from 
Yokohama on the 28th and 29th of August, 1864. 
The attack was made from the 5th to the 8th of 
September. The daimyo, finding it useless to con- 
tend against such overwhelming odds, gave in his 
absolute submission. 

After the return of the expedition the representa- 
tives of the allied powers held a conference with the 
Japanese ministers of foreign affairs with reference 
to the final settlement of this unfortunate business. 
A convention ^ was entered into between the inter- 
ested parties, dated the 22d of October, 1864, by 

^ It should be stated here that a despatch to the British envoy from 
Earl Russell arrived just after the sailing of the expedition in which 
he says : " That Her Majesty's government positively enjoin you 
not to undertake any military operation whatever in the interior of 
Japan ; and they would indeed regret the adoption of any measures 
of hostility against the Japanese government or princes, even though 
limited to naval operations, unless absolutely required by self- 
defence." Had this order arrived in time, it is probable that the ex- 
pedition would not have sailed. — Correspondence Respecting Affairs in 
Japan, 1875, No. I, p. 45. 

" It will be remembered that the United States at this time had 
occasion to use all her ships-of-war at home in the civil war that was 
raging. 

' See Treaties and Conventions between the Empire of Japan and 
Other Powers, p. 318. 



REVOLUTIONARY PRELUDES. 349 

which an indemnity of three miUion dollars was to 
be paid by Japan to the four powers for damages 
and for expenses entailed by the operations against 
the daimyo of Choshu. This sum was to be paid in 
instalments of half a million dollars each. The 
four powers agreed among themselves as to the divi- 
sion of this indemnity : That France, the Nether- 
lands, and the United States, in consideration of the 
actual attacks made on their shipping, were to re- 
ceive each one hundred and forty thousand dollars, 
and that the remaining sum should be divided 
equally between the four powers. 

It has always been felt that the exaction of this 
large indemnity was a harsh if not an unwarrantable 
proceeding. The government of Yedo had dis- 
avowed and apologized for the conduct of the rebel- 
lious daimyo, and promised, if time were allowed, to 
reduce him to subjection. Of the powers which 
were allied in the expedition, Great Britain had 
suffered no damage, and the United States had al- 
ready received an indemnity for the injuries and 
expenses of the vessel fired upon. To insist, there- 
fore, upon the government not only paying for the 
damage inflicted, but for the expense of an unneces- 
sarily large and costly expedition to suppress the 
rebellious subordinate, which was sent contrary to 
the express protest of the responsible government, 
seems too much like that overbearing diplomacy 
with which western nations have conducted their 
intercourse in the East.^ The promised sum, how- 

^ The only additional circumstance that deserves mention in this 
connection is that in response to a widely expressed public sentiment 



350 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

ever, was at last, after much financial distress, all 
paid, and the painful episode was ended. 

One undesigned benefit resulted from the Shimo- 
noseki expedition. Just as the bombardment of 
Kagoshima had taught the daimyo of Satsuma the 
folly of resisting western armaments, so now the 
daimyo of Choshu had learned by an expensive ex- 
perience the same bitter lesson. For the future 
these two powerful clans might therefore be counted 
on, not only to oppose the moribund government of 
Yedo, but to withstand the folly of trying to expel 
the foreigners who by treaty with an unauthorized 
agent had been admitted into the country. The 
Choshu leaders had also taken advantage of their 
experiences in this conflict with foreigners to put 
their troops on a better basis as regards arms and 
organization. For the first time the privilege of the 
samurai to do all the fighting, was disregarded, and 
a division* of troops was formed from the common 
people, which was armed with foreign muskets and 
drilled in the western tactics. They went by the 
name of " irregular troops " (kiheitai), and played 
no small part in rendering nugatory the efforts of 
the shogun to '' chastise " the daimyo of Choshu in 
1865 and 1866. 

Another noteworthy military event deserves men- 
tion here. Colonel Neale had applied to his govern- 
ment for a military guard to protect British interests 

the Congress of the United States in 1883 refunded to Japan 
$785,000.87, her share in this indemnity. — See Ti-eaiies and Con* 
ventions between the Rjnpire of Japan and Other Powers^ p. 320. 
^ See translation of Kins^ Shiriaku, Yokohama, 1876, p. 59. 



REVOLUTIONARY PRELUDES. 35 1 

at Yokohama. Two companies of the 20th regiment 
were sent from Hongkong, and with the consent of 
the Japanese government took up their residence in 
1864 at barracks in the foreign settlement. They 
were afterwards joined by a French contingent, 
and for many years they were a famihar sight, 
and gave a sense of security to the nervous 
residents. 

While these serious collisions were taking place 
between Japan and the foreign powers, there was an 
increasing and irreconcilable animosity developed 
between the Kyoto and Yedo governments. The 
ostensible reason, which was put forward on "all occa- 
sions, was the difference of opinion upon the ques- 
tion of the foreign treaties and foreign intercourse. 
The Yedo government had by the force of circum- 
stances become practically familiar with the views of 
the representatives of foreign nations, and had been 
convinced that the task of expelling foreigners and 
returning again to the ancient policy of seclusion 
was far beyond the power of Japan. On the con- 
trary, the court of the emperor was a hot-bed 
of anti-foreign sentiment in which all the ancient 
prejudices of the empire naturally flourished, and 
where the feudal princes who were jealous of the 
shogun found a ready element in which to foment 
difficulties. 

Two important games were in progress. Yedo 
was the field on which one of these was to be de- 
cided, and the players were the representatives of 
the treaty powers on the one side, and the shogun's 
government on the other. Victory had already been 



352 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

virtually declared in favor of an open country and 
foreign intercourse. The other game was being 
played at Kyoto between the shogun's friends and 
his enemies. The stake was a momentous one, 
namely, to determine whether the present dual 
government was to continue and who was hereaf= 
ter to wield the destinies of the empire. 

The government of the shogun had long been 
convinced that it was necessary to make the best 
of the presence of foreigners in the country 
and that it was vain to make further exertions for 
their expulsion. But a vast number of the feudal 
retainers of the daimyos were still bitterly hostile, 
and took frequent occasion to commit outrages, for 
which the government was held responsible. Be- 
sides the cases which have been already mentioned, 
a new legation which the British government had 
built in Gotenyama, a site which the Japanese gov- 
ernment had set apart in Yedo for foreign legations, 
was burned to the ground in 1863. In the same 
year the temple buildings in Yedo which the 
United States had leased for a legation were burned. 
Twice the shogun's castle in Yedo had been de- 
stroyed by fire. A murderous attack was made 
upon British subjects in Nagasaki ; Lieutenant de 
Cannes of the French troops was assassinated in 
1864; and in the same year Major Baldwin and 
Lieutenant Bird, two British officers were murdered 
at Kamakura. 

These repeated outrages seriously disturbed the 
Yedo government, and led to several attempts to 
curtail the privileges which by the treaties were 



REVOLUTIONARY PRELUDES, 353 

secured to foreigners. The last proposition of the 
kind which was made was one conveyed to the 
French government by an embassy sent out in 1864. 
They presented a request to have the port of Kana- 
gawa closed up and trade to be confined to Hakodate 
and Nagasaki. They received no. encouragement, 
however, and returned with their eyes '■' opened by 
the high state of material and moral prosperity 
which surrounded them," and reported the com- 
plete failure of their attempts at persuasion. " The 
bakufii reprimanded them for having disgraced 
their functions, and, reducing their incomes, forced 
them to retire into private life." ' 

It is necessary now to trace the course of events 
at Kyoto. According to the theory of the govern- 
ment of Japan the emperor was the supreme and 
unlimited ruler and the shogun was his executive. 
The maintenance of the emperor and his court was 
a function of the shogun, and hence it was almost 
always possible for him to compel the emperor to 
pursue any policy which he might desire. 

At the time now under review Komei, the father 
of the present emperor, occupied the imperial throne. 
He had succeeded to this dignity in 1847 ^t the age 
of eighteen, and he died in 1866 at the age of thirty- 
seven. The shogun was lemochi, who in 1858 had 
been chosen from the family of Kii, because of the 
failure of an heir in the regular line. At the time 
of his election he was a boy of twelve years of age, 
and was placed under the guardianship of the prime 
minister li Kamon-no-kami. After the assassina- 

^ See translation of Kinse Shiriaku^ Yokohama, p. 50. 
23 



354 I^^E STORY OF JAPAN. 

tion of the prime minister in 1861, Hitotsubashi 
Gyobukyo, a son of the daimyo of Mito, was ap- 
pointed guardian, and served in this capacity until 
the shogun's death. 

Around the court of the emperor were gathered 
many discordant elements. The party of the sho- 
gun was always represented, and the daimyo of 
Aizu, its ardent friend and champion, had the honor- 
able distinction of guarding the imperial palace. By 
invitation many other daimyos were at Kyoto with 
retinues of officers and attendants, and with guards 
of troops. The southern and western daimyos were 
present in imposing numbers, and although they did 
not always agree among themselves, they were in 
harmony in the general purpose to discredit the 
government at Yedo and to promote the imperial 
authority. 

The expulsion of foreigners was the common sub- 
ject of discussion and agitation. Although again 
and again it had been assured that it was impossible 
to dislodge the treaty powers from their position in 
the country, the court still continued to direct its 
efforts to this object. For the first time in two hun- 
dred and thirty years,' when lemitsu went up to the 
imperial court, the Shogun lemochi visited Kyoto in 
1863 in order to consult about the affairs of the 
country. In accordance with the precedent set by 
lemitsu, the shogun distributed on this occasion 
rich presents to the emperor and the officers of his 
court. He also scattered among the townspeople 
his largesses, until '' the whole populace, moistened in 

^ See translation of Kinse Shiraku^ Yokohama, p. 24. 



REVOLUTIONARY PRELUDES. 355 

the bath of his mercy and goodness, were greatly 
pleased and gratified." * 

Conferences^ were held between the daimyos who 
were present in Kyoto and the officials of the court, 
and in spite of the objections and remonstrances of 
the Yedo official, an imperial edict was issued and 
entrusted to the shogun for execution, to expel from 
the country the hated foreigners. This edict was 
notified to the representatives of the treaty powers 
by the Yedo officials. They seemed, however, to 
regard their duty fully done when this notice was 
given. No serious steps were ever taken to carry 
out these expulsive measures, unless the obstruction 
of navigation of the Shimonoseki straits by the dai- 
myo of Choshu be regarded of this character. 

in 1863 a plot was alleged to have been formed by 
the Choshu men to seize the emperor and carry him 
off to their own territory. The object aimed at by 
this plot was of course to get the court out of the 
hands of the shogun's friends, and surround it by 
influences favorable to the plans of the southern 
daimyos. The court, however, became alarmed by 
the reports in circulation, and steps were taken to 
forbid the Choshu troops, who guarded Sakaimachi 
gate, access to the grounds of the imperial palace. 
Offended by this action they retired to their own 
territory. Seven of the most prominent court 

* See citation in Adams' History of Japan, vol. i., p. 260. 

^ Toyokichi lyenaga, Ph.D., in his pamphlet on the Constitutional 
Development of Japan, p. 17, traces the evolution of the present 
parliamentary institutions to the conferences which were held at this 
and subsequent times. 



356 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

nobles (kuges) ^ who sympathized with Choshu in his 
aims and purposes accompanied them, and were 
thereupon deprived of their rank and revenue. 

The departure of the Choshu clansmen and the 
triumph of the shogun's party seemed to have put 
an end to the anti-foreign policy. The emperor and 
his court had been forced to the conclusion that the 
effort to expel the treaty powers was far beyond the 
powers of Japan, even if it were united and its exer- 
tions directed from one centre. From this time 
may be estimated to begin a new phase in the con- 
test which was to end in the restoration of the origi- 
nal form of government. 

The territory of Choshu had become the ren- 
dezvous for all the disaffected elements of the em- 
pire. The daimyo was looked upon as the patriotic 
leader of the country, and ronins from all parts 
hastened to enroll themselves under his banner. In 
the summer of 1864 the Choshu forces, to the 
number of several thousand, composed not only of 
the samurai of the province, but also of the dis- 
affected ronms who had gathered there, and of the 
" irregular troops," kiheitai, which had been organ- 
ized, started to re-enter Kyoto in order to regain the 
position they had previously occupied. The contest 
which followed has been described with lurid dis- 
tinctness by native annalists. They were encoun- 
tered by Hitotsubashi in command of the troops of 
Aizu, Echizen, Hikone, and other loyal clans. After 
a battle which lasted several days, and which raged 

* Among these was Sanjo Saneyoshi, who afterwards for man^ 
years was the prime minister of the restored government. 



RE VOL U TIONA RY PR EL UDES, 



357 



chiefly about the imperial palace, the Choshu troops 
were completely defeated and forced to retire. It 
gives us an idea of the terrible earnestness of these 
Japanese warriors to read how a little remnant of 




KIDO TAKEYOSHI. 
(From a photograph.) 



the Choshu troops took refuge on Tennozan ; and 
when they heard their pursuers approaching, how 
seventeen of them committed hara-kiri ' ; and lest 

' See Adams' History of jfapan, vol. i., p. 431. 



358 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

their heads should be recognized and their names 
disgraced, how they had thrown themselves into the 
flames of a temple which they had set on fire. 
Three of the company who had performed the 
friendly act of decapitation for their comrades had 
escaped by mountain roads and made their way 
back to Choshu. 

The usual concomitant of fighting in a town had 
followed, and a great part of Kyoto had been de- 
stroyed by fire/ The Satsuma troops had taken an 
important part in this repulse of Choshu. They had 
intervened at a very critical moment, and had cap- 
tured a considerable number of Choshu prisoners. 
But they had treated them with great consideration, 
and subsequently had even sent them home with 
presents, so that the Choshu men felt they really 
had friends instead of enemies in the warlike south- 
ern clan. It is in this battle we catch the first 
glimpse of the Choshu leader, Kido Takeyoshi, then 
known as Katsura Kogoro.'' He must have been 
about thirty-four years of age, and already gave 
promise of the talents which made him one of the 
most conspicuous and influential statesmen of the 
restoration. 

In 1865 Sir Harry Parkes arrived in Japan as the 
envoy plenipotentiary of the British government. 
He had resided in China from boyhood, and had 
been especially conspicuous in the war between 

' The annalist from whom Adams quotes gives the number of 
houses burned as 27,000. Adams' History of Japan, vol. i., p. 434. 

2 See the Genji Yume Monogatari and Satow's note in Adams' 
History of Japan, vol. i., p. 407. 



REVOLUTIONARY PRELUDES. 359 

China and Great Britain in i860. His career in 
Japan continued until 1883, when he was promoted 
to the court of Peking. He had the good fortune to 
be the representative of his country during the most 




UDAIJIN IWAKURA TOMOMI. 
(From a photograph.) 

momentous years of modern Japanese history, and 
in many of the most important events he exerted an 
influence which was decisive. 

The troubles in Choshu were finally brought to a 
close. The efforts of the shogun, although con- 



360 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

ducted at great expense, were unavailing. Satsuma, 
when summoned to render aid in crushing the rebel- 
Hcus prince, decHned to join in the campaign. 
Through the efforts of Saigo Kichinoske,' a treaty of 
amity was effected between the two clans. The kind 
treatment of the Choshu prisoners in the attack on 
Kyoto was remembered, and the help and alliance 
of the powerful Kyushu clan were eagerly accepted. 
Peace was negotiated between the shogun and the 
rebels. Thus the ChoshQ episode was ended, with 
no credit to the shogun's party, but with a distinct 
gain to the cause of the imperial restoration.* 

It had long been recognized that the treaties 
which had been made by the foreign powers would 
possess a greatly increased influence on the Japanese 
people if they could have the sanction of the em- 
peror. The shogun lemochi had been summoned to 
Kyoto by the emperor to consult upon the concerns 
of the nation, and was occupying his castle at Osaka. 
The representatives of the foreign powers thereupon 
concluded that it would be a timely movement to 
proceed with their naval armaments to Hyogo, and 

' This distinguished soldier is better known under the name of 
Saigo Takamori. He was originally an ardent anti-foreign partisan, 
and through this sentiment became an advocate of a restoration of 
the emperor. His services in this revolutionary movement were re- 
warded by a pension granted and accepted by the emperor's express 
command. — See Mounsey's Satsuma Rebellion^ London, p. 22. 

^ In this reconciliation of the Satsuma and Choshu clans the court 
noble, Iwakura Tomomi, took a prominent part, and after the res- 
toration was complete he became one of the principal officers in the 
new government, holding the office of Udaijin until his death. He 
is best known to foreigners as the head of an embassy which visited 
western countries in 1872-3. 



REVOLUTIONARY PRELUDES, 36 1 

wait upon the shogun at Osaka, with the purpose of 
urging him to obtain the imperial approval of the 
treaties. This was accordingly done, and an im- 
pressive display of the allied fleets was made at the 
town, which has since been opened to foreign 
trade. 

The shogun was both young and irresolute, and 
personally had neither weight nor influence. But 
his guardian, Hitotsubashi, was a man of mature 
years and judgment. He recognized the importance 
of obtaining the approval of the em.peror to the 
foreign treaties, and of thus ending the long and 
ruinous agitation which prevailed in the country. 

A memorial ^ was presented to the emperor in the 
name of the shogun, setting forth the embarrassment 
under which the administration of the country had 
been conducted on account of the supposed opposi- 
tion of the emperor to the treaties, and begging him 
to relieve them by signifying his sanction ; and as- 
suring him that if this is not given, the foreign 
representatives who are at Hyogo will proceed to 
the capital and demand it at his hands. 

It ended in the sanction of the treaties being 
signified October 23, 1865, by the following laconic 
decree ^ addressed to the shogun : *' The imperial 
consent is given to the treaties, and you will therefore 
undertake the necessary arrangements therewith." 

During this critical time the Shogun lemochi died 
September 19, 1866, at his castle in Osaka at the 

- See this memorial as given in Adams' History of Japan ^ vol. ii.. 
p. 24. 
^ See Adams' History of yapan^ vol. ii., p. 24. 



362 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

age of eighteen. He had been chosen in 1858, in 
the absence of a regular heir, by the determined 
influence of li Kamon-no-kami, who was then all- 
powerful at Yedo. He was too young to have any 
predominating influence upon affairs. Until the 
assassination of the prime minister li Kamon-no- 
kami in 1 861 the boy shogun had been under his 
guardianship. Since then that duty had been de- 
volved upon Hitotsubashi, a son of the diamyo of 
Mito, who had been himself strongly pressed for the 
office of shogun, but who was alleged to be too 
mature and resolute a character for the prime 
minister's purposes. As guardian, Hitotsubashi had 
taken an active part in the effort to obtain the sanc- 
tion of the treaties, and the final success of this 
important step must in a great measure be attributed 
to him. 

After the death of lemochi without direct heirs, 
the office of shogun was offered to Hitotsubashi as 
a representative of Mito, one of the '' honorable 
families " from whom a shogun was to be chosen in 
case of a failure of direct heirs. It is said that he 
accepted the office with great reluctance, knowing 
the troubles which would surely await him who as- 
sumed it. He assented only on the command of 
the emperor and the assurance of support from 
many of the diamyos. He has thus the distinction 
of becoming the last of the long line of Tokugawa 
shoguns, under the name of Tokugawa Yoshinobu.' 

A few months after the death of lemochi, on the 
3d of February, 1867, Emperor Komei also died 

' See Adams' History of Japan, vol. ii., p. 37, 



REVOLUTIONARY PRELUDES, 



363 



from an attack of small-pox. He is said to have 
been strongly prejudiced against foreigners and 
foreign intercourse, and it was claimed at the time 
of his death, that when he sanctioned the foreign 




THE REIGNING EMPEROR. 



treaties the divine nature left him to fall a prey to 
the ravages of ordinary disease. His son Mutsuhito, 
then in his fifteenth year, succeeded him and is now 
the reigning emperor, the one hundred and twenty- 
first of his line. 



364 - THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

It was thought that the death of an emperor of 
strong prejudices and of a mature age would 
naturally favor a more complete control by the 
new shogun. It was not to be anticipated that an 
emperor, still only a youth, would pursue the same 
policy as his father, and undertake to assume a 
real and active part in the government of his 
country. But the shogun and his friends under- 
rated the influences which were gathered at Kyoto, 
and which now went far beyond an anti-foreign sen- 
timent and were chiefly concerned with schemes for 
restoring the imperial power and unifying the form 
of government. 

The daimyo of Tosa, who was a man of liberal 
sentiments and of great penetration, addressed a 
letter to the shogun in October, 1867, in which he 
frankly says : " The cause [of our trouble] lies in the 
fact that the administration proceeds from two cen- 
tres, causing the empire's eyes and ears to be turned 
in two different directions. The march of events 
has brought about a revolution, and the old system 
can no longer be persevered in. You should restore 
the governing power into the hands of the sovereign 
and so lay a foundation on which Japan may take 
its stand as the equal of other countries." ' 

The shogun being deeply impressed with the wis- 
dom of this advice drew up a document addressed 
to his vassals, asking their opinion of the advisability 
of his resignation. Among other things he says: 
*' It appears to me that the laws cannot be main- 
tained in face of the daily extension of our foreign 
1 Translation of Kinse Shiriaku, Yokohama, p. 30. 



REVOLUTIONARY PRELUDES. 365 

relations, unless the government be conducted by 
one head, and I propose therefore to surrender the 
whole governing power into the hands of the im- 





IMPERIAL CRESTS. 

perial court. This is the best I can do for the 
interests of the empire." * According to this an- 

' Translation of Kins/ Shiraku^ Yokohama, p. 80. 

\ 



366 



THE STORY OF JAPAN, 



nounced resolution, on the 19th of November, 1867, 
the shogun resigned into the hands of the emperor 
his authority. This surrender was accepted, and thus 
a dynasty which had lasted from 1603 came to an 
end. That this surrender might be declined and the 
power still continue to be held by the Tokugawa, 
was perhaps the hope and wish of the last shogun. 
But it was not to be. The powerful clans who for 
years had labored for the destruction of the Toku- 
gawa primacy were ready to undertake the respon- 
sibility of a new government. And although the 
change was not to be effected without a struggle, 
yet from this point may be counted to begin the 
new period of the restoration. 




GATHERING LACQUER, 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE RESTORED EMPIRE. 

The resignation of the shogun was accepted by 
the emperor, on the understanding that a conference 
of the daimyos was to be called and its opinion 
taken in reference to the subsequent conduct of 
affairs. In the meantime the ex-shogun, under the 
command of the emperor, was to continue the ad- 
ministration, particularly of those interests which 
concerned the foreign powers. But the allied west- 
ern cfaimyos feared the effect of leaving the admin- 
istration in the hands of their enemies. The posses- 
sion of the person of the emperor was always reck- 
oned an important advantage. Especially was this 
the case when the emperor was only a boy, whose 
influence in the affairs of the government could 
have little weight. They resolved, therefore, to 
take measures which would definitely ensure the 
termination of the shogun's power, and secure for 
themselves the result for which they had been so 
long laboring. 

On January 3, 1868, by a so-called order of the 
emperor,' but really by the agreement of the allied 
^ See translation of Kins^ Shiriaku, Yokohama, p. 82. 



368 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

daimyos, the troops of the Aizu clan, who were in 
charge of the palace gates, were dismissed from their 
duty, and their place assumed by troops of the clans 
of Satsuma, Tosa, Aki, Owari, and Echizen. The 
kugis who surrounded the court and who were fav- 
orable to the Tokugawa party were discharged and 
forbidden to enter its precincts. The vacant places 
were filled by adherents of the new order of things. 
The offices of kzvanibaku and shogun were by impe- 
rial edict abolished. A provisional plan of adminis- 
tration was adopted and persons of adequate rank 
appointed to conduct the several departments. " A 
decree was issued announcing that the government 
of the country was henceforth solely in the hands 
of the imperial court." ^ 

One of the first acts of the new government was 
to recall the daimyo of Choshu, who had been ex- 
pelled from Kyoto, in 1863, and to invite back the 
kiigh who had been exiled and deprived of their 
revenues and honors. The sentence of confiscation 
which had been pronounced upon them was abro- 
gated and they were restored to their former privi- 
leges. One of them, Sanjo Saneyoshi, as prime 
minister speiit the remainder of his life in reviving 
the ancient and original form of government. The 
Choshu troops who had been driven out of the capi- 
tal in 1863, were recalled and given a share with the 
loyal clans in guarding the palace of the emperor. 

This powerful clan," which had suffered such a 

' See translation of Kins/ Shiriaku, Yokohama, p. 82. 

^With that talent for nicknaming which the Japanese exhibit, the 
leading party in the new government was called Sat-cho-io ; derived 
from the first syllables of the clans, Satsuma, Ch5shu, and Tosa. 



THE RESTORED EMPIRE, 369 

varied experience, was destined to take and main- 
tain a leading position in the future development of 
the restored empire. 

The Aizu and other clans which had been devoted 
friends of the Tokugawa shoguns were especially 
outraged by this conciliatory spirit shown to the 
Choshu troops. They claimed that this clan by 
resisting the imperial commands had merited the 
opprobrious title of rebels {chotoki), and were no 
longer fit for the association of loyal clans. But the 
Choshu daimyo had been restored to the favor of his 
emperor, and moreover was allied with the clans 
whose power was paramount at Kyoto, so that the 
disapprobation of the Tokugawa adherents had little 
terror for him. 

At the suggestion of his friends the shogun re- 
tired to his castle at Osaka, and the troops attached 
to his cause also retreated and gathered under his 
standard. The situation of affairs was for a time 
uncertain. The shogun had resigned, and his resig- 
nation had been accepted, but he had been asked 
by the emperor to continue his administration. Sub- 
sequently, under the pressure of the allied clans, the 
emperor had abolished the shogunate and entrusted 
the administration to a provisional government. 
This last action the friends of the ex-shogun re- 
sented as the doings of revolutionists. It is believed 
that he himself was averse to further conflict. Any 
step which he might take in the vindication of his 
rights must involve war with the allied clans, and he 
was not a man of war. 

While these critical events were taking place, the 

24 -- ' . 



370 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

representatives of foreign powers came down from 
Yedo to Hyogo with an impressive array of men-of- 
war. By invitation of the ex-shogun they visited 
him at Osaka. In reply to the representatives he 
made an address/ complaining of the arbitrary con- 
duct of those who now had possession of the impe- 
rial person, and notifying them that he was willing 
and able to protect their rights under the treaties, 
and asking them to await the action of a conference 
to be summoned. In consequence of the conflict 
which was now imminent, the representatives of the 
treaty powers issued a notice to their citizens that 
neutrality must be maintained under all circum- 
stances, and arms and ammunition must not be sold 
to either party. 

The first armed conflict between the two parties 
took place during the closing days of January, 1868. 
Two of the allied daimyos, Owari and Echizen, were 
sent to Osaka to confer with the ex-shogun, in the 
hope that some terms might be agreed upon, by 
which further difficulty could be avoided. They were 
both Tokugawa daimyos, Owari belonging to one of 
\.h.^ go-sanke families, and Echizen being a descend- 
ant of leyasu's son. They offered to the ex-shogun 
an honorable appointment, and if he would come to 
Kyoto they assured him a ready audience before the 
emperor. He promised to obey the emperor's com- 
mand and visit the capital. 

After the envoys had gone his friends raised sus- 
picions in his mind concerning his personal safety. 
The daimyos of Aizu and Kuwana offered to accom- 

^ See Adams' History of Japan ^ vol. ii,, p. 84. 



THE RESTORED EMPIRE, 37 1 

pany him in case he determined to go. They organ- 
ized, therefore, a force of about 10,000 men with 
which they proposed to escort him. He must have 
known that a formidable mihtary escort hke this 
would precipitate a conflict. However, he set out. 
The news of the preparations of the ex-shogun was 
brought to Kyoto, and aroused a determination to 
resist his invasion of the capital. He had been 
invited to the palace by the emperor, but he was to 
come as a peaceful visitor. If he had determined to 
come with a guard composed of the enemies of the 
empire he must be resisted. 

Troops of the Satsuma and Choshu clans were, 
therefore, posted to intercept the march of the ex- 
shogun's escort. It is believed that they numbered 
about 1,500* men. The fighting took place on the 
roads leading from Osaka to Kyoto, and lasted 
during the 28th, 29th, and 30th of January. It 
ended in the complete defeat of the rebel army, 
although it so far outnumbered its adversaries. 

The ex-shogun being thus disappointed in his 
plan to enter the capital with a commanding force 
retired to his castle at Osaka, from which he pro- 
ceeded on a steam corvette to Yedo.^ The castle at 

^ The numbers here given, of 10,000 troops in the rebel army and 
1,500 in the imperial army, are much less than those claimed by the 
Japanese authorities, but Mr. Satow who had means of ascertaining 
the truth gives the numbers as stated in the text. See Adams' 
History of yapajt, vol. ii., p. gg, note. 

- An incident connected with this return illustrates both the times 
and customs of the country. Hori Kura-no-kami, a prominent retainer 
of the ex-shogun, besought hismaster to commit hara-kiri as the only 
way in which his own honor and the dignity of the Tokugawa clan 
could be preserved. He offered to join him in this tragic ceremony, 



372 

Osaka was burnt, and the defeated troops made 
their way by land to the same rendezvous. The 
antipathy existing between the Satsuma clan and 
the Tokugawa adherents showed itself in a very pro- 
nounced manner in Yedo. The Satsuma yashiki^ 
which was occupied by troops of that clan and by 
ronins favorable to them was surrounded by Toku- 
gawa troops and burnt. Collisions between the 
two parties were of constant occurrence, which con- 
tinued until the arrival of the imperial troops restored 
order. In Hyogo too, which with Osaka was opened 
to foreign trade on the first of January, 1868, there 
were difficulties between the foreigners and anti- 
foreign element in the population. But these 
troubles rapidly disappeared, because the new gov- 
ernment took pains at once to make it plain that the 
treaties with foreign powers were to be kept, and 
outrages committed against those who were in 
the country under these treaties were not to be 
tolerated. 

On February 8, 1868, the emperor sent to the 
foreign representatives a request that they communi- 
cate to their governments the fact that hereafter the 
administration of both internal and external affairs 
would be conducted by him, and that officers would 
be appointed to conduct the business which may 
arise under the foreign treaties. 

In token of the sincerity of this communication 
an invitation was conveyed to the representatives of 

but the ex-shogun declined to end his life in this way. Thereupon 
the devoted retainer retired and in the presence of his own friends 
himself committed hara-kiri. 



THE RESTORED EMPIRE. 373 

the powers then at Hyogo to present themselves 
before the emperor on March 23d. The significance 
of this event can scarcely now be conceived. Never 
before in the history of the empire had its divine 
head deigned to admit to his presence the despised 
foreigner, or put himself on an equahty with the 
sovereign of the foreigner. The event created in the 
ancient capital the utmost excitement. The French 
and Dutch ministers had each in turn been con- 
ducted to the palace and had been received in 
audience. No serious incident had occurred. But 
during the progress of Sir Harry Parkes/ the British 
representative, from his lodgings to the palace, two 
fanatical samurai rushed upon his escort, and before 
they could be overpowered wounded nine of them. 
One of the would-be assassins was killed and the 
other was captured after being desperately wounded. 
The party returned at once to the lodgings of the 
envoy who fortunately was uninjured. 

The court, by whose invitation the ministers had 
undertaken to present themselves before the em- 
peror, was overwhelmed with mortification. High 
officers at once waited upon Sir Harry and tendered 
their sympathy and profound regret. After making 
every reparation in their power, arrangements were 
made to hold the audience on the day following that 
originally appointed. It was held accordingly with- 
out further incident. Warned by this alarming 
occurrence, the government issued an edict, that as 
the treaties had now been sanctioned by the em- 
peror, the protection *of foreigners was henceforth 

' American Diplomatic Correspondence^ April 3, 1868. 



374 ^^^ STORY OF JAPAN, 

his particular care ; that if therefore any sainttrai 
were to be guilty of an outrage against them, he 
should be degraded from his rank, and denied the 
honorable privilege of committing hara-kiri ; he 
should suffer the punishment of a common criminal 
and have his head exposed in token of dishonor. 
Miyeda Shigeru, the surviving culprit, was thus 
punished. 

The scene of the brief contest was now shifted to 
the east. The ex-shogun seemed to vacillate be- 
tween a complete surrender of his power and a pro- 
visional retention of it until the will of the nation 
could be taken by a conference of the daimyos. On 
the arrival of the imperial forces in Yedo the final 
terms of his future treatment were announced to the 
ex-shogun : That he retire to Mito, and there live in 
seclusion ; that the castle in Yedo be evacuated ; 
and that the vessels and armaments now in the pos- 
session of the ex-shogun be surrendered. These 
terms were accepted, and he took up his residence 
in his ancestral province of Mito. Subsequently he 
was permitted to remove to the castle of Sumpu at 
Shizuoka. With him the dynasty of Tokugawa 
shoguns vanishes from history. 

His adherents, however, still continued to resist 
the imperial forces. For months the Aizu troops 
hovered about Yedo, and at last came to blows with 
the imperial troops at the grounds of the Uyeno 
temple on July 4, 1868. It was a hard-fought battle, 
and was at last decided by an Armstrong gun in the 
hands of the Hizen troops. The fine old temple was 
destroyed, and the rebel forces withdrew to the north. 



THE RESTORED EMPIRE. 375 

Further complications arose — fighting at Utsuno- 
miya, etc., — but at last they were ended by the sur- 
render of the castle of Wakamatsu, where the daimyo 
of Aizu had made a stand. With generous fortitude 
he took the blame upon himself and submitted to 
the clemency of his sovereign. 

It is only necessary now in order to bring to a 
close the account of this short military contest, to 
refer to the movements of the fleet lying at Shina- 
gawa. It will be remembered that by the terms 
accepted by the ex-shogun these vessels were to be 
surrendered to the imperial forces. There were 
seven of them, mounting in all eighty-three guns. 
They were under the command of Enomoto Izumi- 
no-kami, who had learned in Holland the science of 
naval war. He did not approve of his master sur- 
rendering these muniments of war. On the morning 
of the day when the vessels were to be delivered 
over to the imperial commander, they had dis- 
appeared from their anchorage. In the night 
Enomoto had got up steam, crept out through Yedo 
bay, and sailed northward to more friendly climes. 
The imperial fleet followed, and after some manoeu- 
vring at Sendai proceeded to Hakodate. Here the 
warlike operations between the rebels and the 
imperial troops lasted till July, 1869. Finally, the 
leaders, Enomoto and Matsudaira Taro, seeing that 
it was hopeless to contend longer against a con- 
stantly increasing enemy, offered to commit hara-kiri^ 
in order that their followers might be saved by a 
surrender. Their unselfish purpose was not, how- 
ever, permitted. Then it was determined that the 



376 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

two leaders should give themselves up to the besieg. 
ers, to save the rest. This was done. The prisoners 
were sent to Yedo, and their gallant conduct and 
heroic devotion to the cause of their prince were so 
keenly appreciated that they were all pardoned. 

While these events were transpiring in the east 
and north, the work of establishing a system of ad- 
ministration was proceeded with at Kyoto. 

A constitution was drawn up, detailing the various 
departments of the government, and the duties of 
the officers in each. These departments were: 
I. Of supreme administration ; 2. of the Shinto 
religion ; 3. of home affairs ; 4. of foreign affairs ,• 
5. of war; 6. of finance; 7. of judicial affairs ; 8. of 
legislative affairs. This scheme underwent several 
changes, and for a long time was regarded as only 
tentative. 

The ablest men in the movements which were 
now in progress were afraid of the traditions of 
indulgence and effeminacy which attached to the 
court at Kyoto. In order to restore the government 
to a true and self-respecting basis, it seemed neces- 
sary to cut loose from the centuries of seclusion in 
which the emperor had remained, and enter upon 
the work of governing the empire as a serious and 
solemn task. It was in this spirit that Okubo 
Toshimichi of Satsuma, one of the ablest of the 
statesmen of the new era, made in 1868 a novel and 
startling proposition. It was in a memorial * ad- 

^ An English translation of this memorial will be found in Black's 
Neiv yapan, vol, ii., p. 84. It shows what prejudices the statesmen 
of that day had to overcome. See also American Diplojnatic CorrC' 
sJ>ondence, 1868, p. 727. 



THE RESTORED EMPIRE. 377 

dressed by him to the emperor. He proposed that 
the emperor should abandon the traditions which 
had grown up respecting his person and his court, 
and rule his empire with personal supervision. To 
do this successfully, he recommended that the capital 
be transferred from the place of its degrading super- 
stitions to a new home. He suggested that Osaka 
be the place selected. 

If the emperor's court had been under the same 
influences as had governed it in past years, such a 
proposition would have been received with horror. 
Perhaps even the bold proposer would have been 
deemed fit for the ceremony of hara-kiri. But the 
men who surrounded the emperor belonged to a 
different school, and the emperor himself, although 
he was still an inexperienced youth, had already be- 
gun to breathe the freer air of a new life. The prop- 
osition was welcomed, and led to the great change 
which followed. After discussion and consideration 
it was determined that the emperor should make his 
residence not in Osaka, which would have been a 
great and impressive change, but in Yedo, where for 
two hundred and fifty years the family of leyasu 
had wielded the destinies of the empire. By this 
change more than any other was emphasized the 
fact that hereafter the executive as well as the ulti- 
mate power was to be found in the same imperial 
hands. 

Acting on these principles the emperor followed 
his victorious army and, November 26, 1869, arrived 
at Yedo and took up his residence in the castle. 
Reports were made to him of the complete settle- 



378 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

ment of all difficulties in the north and the establish- 
ment of peace. In token of his arrival the name of 
Yedo had been changed to Tokyo ^ (eastern capital), 
by which name it has since been known. As a com- 
pensation to the disappointed and disheartened citi- 
zens of Kyoto, their city received the corresponding 
designation of Saikyo (western capital). The year- 
period, which from January, 1865, had borne the 
name of Keio, had been changed to Meiji^ (En- 
lightened Peace), and was fixed to begin from 
January, 1868. Heretofore the year-periods had 
been changed whenever it seemed desirable to mark 
a fortunate epoch. But by the edict establishing the 
Meiji year-period, it was settled that hereafter an 
emperor was to make but one change in the year- 
period during his reign. 

The emperor returned to the western capital dur- 
ing the spring of 1869 for a brief visit. The usual 
etiquette of mourning for his father required his 
presence at the imperial tomb. He also availed him- 
self of this visit to wed the present empress, who was 
a princess of the house of Ichijo,'' one of the ancient 
families descended from the Fujiwara. He came 
back again in April, but there was so much opposi- 
tion on the part of the inhabitants of the ancient 

' See Kinse Shiriaku, Yokohama, p. 116. 

- See Kinse Shiriakti, Yokohama, p. 125. Also American Diplo- 
fnatic Correspondence, March 14, 1871. 

^ This house was one of the five regent families {go-sekk(^) all of 
the Fujiwara clan, from whom the kwambaku, daijo-daijin, or 
sessho, the highest officers under the emperor, were always filled and 
from which the emperors selected their wives. — Dickson's ycz/aw. j. 
52. ' 



THE RESTORED EMPIRE. 379 

capital to the complete loss of their emperor, that it 
was deemed most prudent for the newly married 
empress to remain behind. She did not set out for 
Tokyo to join her husband until the November fol- 
lowing, where she arrived without incident. 

A surprising reminiscence of the Christianity which 
was supposed to have been extinguished in the seven- 
teenth century came to light in 1865. Several Chris- 
tian communities in the neighborhood of Nagasaki V 
were discovered, who had preserved their faith for 
more than two hundred years. Without priests, 
without teachers, almost without any printed in- 
struction, they had kept alive by tradition through 
successive generations a knowledge of the religion 
which their ancestors had professed. These com- 
munities had no doubt maintained a discreet quiet as 
to the tenets of their belief. They had a traditional 
fear of the persecution to which their fathers had 
been subjected and sought by silence to remain un- 
disturbed. It was the rejoicing at their discovery 
which directed the attention of the government to 
the fire which had been so long smouldering. 

A new edict of the imperial government, displayed 
upon the public edict-boards in 1868, first called the 
notice of the foreign representatives to the measures 
which were being taken.'^ It was as follows : '' The 
evil sect called Christian is strictly prohibited. Sus- 
picious persons should be reported to the proper 
officers, and rewards will be given." Nearly all the 

^ See Chamberlain's Things Japanese, 1892, p. 300. 
2 Adams' History of Japan, vol. ii,, p. 126. American Diplomatic 
Correspondence, May 30, 1868. 



380 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

ministers of foreign powers remonstrated against 
this proclamation, as throwing discredit on the re- 
ligions of their countries. The Japanese officials 
defended the punishment of Christians by alleging 
the national prejudice against them, which had come 
from the preceding centuries. They argued that the 
question was one of purely domestic concern, of 
which foreign nations could have no adequate 
knowledge, and in which they had no right to 
interfere. 

The Christians chiefly lived in Urakami, a village 
near Nagasaki. They were said to number about 
four thousand. Orders were sent by the govern- 
ment from Tokyo in June, 1868, that all the fami- 
lies who would not recant should be deported and 
put in the charge of dai^myos in different provinces. 
Only a small part of the Christians were thus exiled. 
The government probably dealt with greater leniency 
because they found the treaty powers so deeply in- 
terested. Subsequently the measures taken against 
the native Christians were withdrawn. In March, 
1872, those who had been dispersed among the 
daimyos were granted permission to return to their 
homes, and persecution for religious belief was ended 
forever. 

On April 17, 1869, before his court and an assembly 
of daimyos, the emperor took what has been called 
the charter oath ^ in five articles, in substance, as 
follows : 

I. A deliberative assembly shall be formed, and all 
measures decided by public opinion. 

^ lyenaga's Constitutional Development of JapaUy p. 33, 



THE RESTORED EMPIRE, 38 1 

2. The principles of social and political economics 
should be diligently studied by both the superior 
and inferior classes of our people. 

3. Every one in the community shall be assisted 
to persevere in carrying out his will for all good 
purposes. 

4. All the absurd usages of former times should 
be disregarded, and the impartiality and justice dis- 
played in the workings of nature be adopted as the 
basis of action. 

5. Wisdom and ability should be sought after in 
all quarters of the world for the purpose of firmly 
establishing the foundations of the empire. 

The promise in the first article to establish a de- 
liberative assembly was watched with the greatest 
solicitude. And when during the same year the 
kogisho ' (parliament) was called together, great hopes 
were entertained of its usefulness. It was composed 
of persons representing each of the daimiates, who 
were chosen for the position by the daimyos. It was 
a quiet peaceful debating society,^ whose function 
was to give advice to the imperial government. 

That it was a thoroughly conservative body is 
apparent from the result of its discussion upon 
several of the traditional customs of Japan. On the 
proposition to recommend the abolition of the privi- 
lege of hara-kiri the vote stood : Ayes 3, noes 200, 
and not voting 6. On the proposition to abolish 
the wearing of swords, which was introduced and 

' See the despatch of Sir Harry Parkes, British State Papers^ 
Japan, 1870. 

^ See lyenaga's Constitutional Development of Japan^ p. 35, 



382 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

advocated by Mori Arinori, the final vote was 
unanimously against it in a house of 213/ After a 
short and uneventful career \.\y^ kogisho was dissolved 
in the autumn of the same year in which it was 
summoned. It had been a step, but not a very 
important step, in the direction of parliamentary 
government. 

We must now give an account of the most re- 
markable event in the modern history of Japan. 
We refer to the termination of feudalism by the 
voluntary surrender of their feudal rights on the 
part of the daimyos. This action was a logical con- 
sequence of the restoration of the executive power 
into the hands of the emperor. It was felt by the 
statesmen of this period that in order to secure a 
government which could grapple successfully with 
the many questions which would press upon it, 
there must be a centralization of the powers which 
were now distributed among the powerful daimyos 
of the empire. To bring this about by force was 
impossible. To discover among the princes a will- 
ingness to give up their hereditary privileges and 
come down to the position of a powerless aristocracy 
was something for which we have hitherto looked 
in vain. 

Doubtless the faineant condition of nearly all the 
daimyos at this time made the accomplishment of 
this event more easy. With only a few exceptions, 
the hereditary princes of the provinces had come to 
be merely the formal chiefs of their daimiates. The 
real power was in the hands of the energetic and 
' See British State Papers, 1870, Japan. 



THE RESTORED EMPIRE, 



383 



capable samurai, who were employed to manage the 
affairs. They saw that any scheme for transferring 
the pohtical authority of the daimyos to the central 




MORI ARINORI. 
(From a Photograph.) 



government would render more important their ser-= 
vices. They would become not merely the formal 
administrative functionaries, but the real oflficers to 
whom responsible duties and trusts would be con- 
fided. Some of this class of subordinates had already 



384 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

in the new imperial government tasted the savoriness 
of this kind of service, and they were ready to carry 
out a plan which seemed to have patriotism and 
practicability in its favor. 

The most notable circumstance in this series of 
events was the presentation to the emperor of an 
elaborate memorial signed by the daimyos of Choshu, 
Satsuma, Tosa, Hizen, Kaga, and others, offering 
him the lists of their possessions and men. This 
memoriaP appeared in the official gazette March 5, 
1869. Its preparation is attributed to Kido Taka- 
yoshi, and bears supreme evidence to his learning 
and statesmanship. With lofty eloquence the me- 
morial exclaims : " The place where we live is the 
emperor's land, and the food which we eat is grown 
by the emperor's men. How can we make it our 
own ? We now reverently offer up the lists of our 
possessions and men, -with the prayer that the emper- 
or will take good measures for rewarding those to 
whom reward is due and taking from those to whom 
punishment is due. Let the imperial orders be 
issued for altering and remodelling the territories of 
the various classes. . . . This is now the most 
urgent duty of the emperor, as it is that of his 
servants and children.' 

The example thus set by the most powerful and 
influential daimyos was followed rapidly by others. 
Two hundred and forty-one ^ of the daimyos united 

' A translation of this memorial will be found in the British State 
Papers, 1870, Japan ; also cited in Adams' History of Japan, vol. ii., 
p. 181. 

2 See an analysis of the daimyos who joined in this memorial in 
British State Papers, 1870, Japan. 



THE RESTORED EMPIRE, 385 

in asking the emperor to take back their hereditary 
territories. And in the end only a small number 
remained who had not so petitioned. Prince Azuki 
in his memorial says: i. *' Let them restore the 
territories which they have received from the em- 
peror and return to a constitutional and undivided 
country. 2. Let them abandon their titles and 
under the name of kwazoku (persons of honor) 
receive such properties as may serve for their wants. 
3. Let the officers of the clans abandoning that 
title, call themselves officers of the emperor, receiv- 
ing property equal to that which they have hitherto 
held." 

In response to these memorials a decree* was 
issued by the emperor August 7, 1869, announcing 
the abolition of the daimiates, and the restoration of 
their revenues to the imperial treasury. It was also 
decreed that the ranks of court nobles {kugh) and of 
daimyos be abolished and the single rank of kwazoku 
be substituted. 

Thus at one stroke the whole institution of feud- 
alism which had flourished from the time of Yorito- 
mo was cut away. The government made provision 
for the administration by creating prefectures {ken) 
to take the place of daimiates. This was done in 
1 87 1. At first the daimyos were appointed govern- 
ors of the prefectures. But it was soon found that 
these hereditary princes were as a class utterly unfit 
for the chief executive offices of their old provinces. 
Hence, one by one other competent persons were 
appointed to vacancies, until it came to be under- 

^ See British State Papers, 1870, Japan. 



386 7'HE STORY OF JAPAN, 

stood that competence and fitness were to be the 
requisite qualifications for such appointments. 

The financial questions involved in the suppression 
of the feudal system were serious and difficult. 
When the daimyos surrendered their fiefs, they did 
so with the understanding that they themselves 
should " receive such properties as may serve their 
wants," ' and that the emperor should take " meas- 
ures for rewarding those to whom reward is due."^ 
It was decided that each ex-daimyo, and each of the 
suzerains that were dependent on him, should receive 
one tenth of the amount of their income from their 
fiefs. The ex-daimyos received this amount free of 
any claims upon them for the support of the non- 
productive samurai, who formed the standing armies 
of each clan. The central government assumed all 
the payments to the samurai for services of what- 
ever kind. This heavy charge of the government 
was met by borrowing $165,000,000,^ which was 
added to the national debt. With this sum they 
undertook to capitalize the pensions, which was 
finally accomplished by a compulsory enactment. 
Each claimant received from the government interest- 
bearing bonds for the amount of his income reckoned 
at from five to fourteen years' purchase according 
to its sum. Thus to the great relief of the country 
the matter of pensions was disposed of. 

To many of the samurai this summary settlement 
had unfortunate results. The lump sums which 

' See Prince Azuki's MemoriaL 

* See Kido's Original Memorial. 

^ See Mounsey's Satsuma Rebellion^ pp. 247, 248. 



THE RESTORED EMPIRE, 387 

they received were often soon consumed, and they 
were left penniless and helpless. The traditions 
under which they had been trained led them to look 
down upon labor and trade with disdain, and ren- 
dered them unfit to enter successfully on the careers 
of modern life. In many cases worry and disap- 
pointment, and in others poverty and watit, have 
been the sequels which have closely followed the 
poor and obsolete samurai. 

Several minor but noteworthy steps in reform 
were taken. The ancient disqualifications of the 
eta and heimin were removed in 1871, and these 
pariahs placed on the same legal footing as the rest 
of the population. The first railway in Japan was 
opened between Yokohama and Tokyo in 1872. 
The European calendar, so far as it regarded the 
beginning of the year and the beginning of the 
months, was adopted in 1873. The year was still 
counted from Jimmu Tenno, 1873 of the Christian 
era corresponding to 2533 of the Japanese era, and 
also by the Meiji year-period, the commencement of 
which was from 1868. 

Several International events deserve notice here. 
A number of RyukyQ islanders (vassals of Japan) 
had been shipwrecked on Formosa and some killed 
by the semi-savage inhabitants. To punish this 
cruelty, and to insure a more humane treatment in 
the future, the Japanese government sent an expedi- 
tion under General Saigo Tsugumichi. They made 
short work of the inhuman tribes and enforced upon 
them the lesson of civility. China, who claimed a 
sovereignty over this island, acknowledged the ser- 



388 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

vice Japan had rendered, and agreed to pay an in 
demnity for the expenses of the expedition. 

The long-pending dispute between Russia and 
Japan concerning the boundary in Saghahen was 
settled in 1875 by a treaty' which exchanged the 
Japanese claims in Saghalien for the Kurile islands 
(Chishima). 

An unexpected attack by the Koreans upon a Jap- 
anese steamer asking coal and provisions awakened 
an intense excitement in Japan. An expedition 
after the pattern of Commodore Perry's, under the 
command of General Kuroda Kiyotaka, was des- 
patched in January, 1876, to come to an under- 
standing with the Koreans. The negotiations were 
entirely successful, and a treaty '^ of amity and com- 
merce was concluded, and thus another of the 
secluded kingdoms of the East had been brought 
into the comity of nations. Then outbreaks of this 
kind in Saga, in Higo, in Akizuki, and in Choshu 
occurred, but they were all put down without diffi- 
culty or delay. The promptness with which the 
government dealt with these factions boded no good 
to the reactionary movements that were ready to 
break out in other places. 

Although the Satsuma clan had taken the most 
prominent part in the destruction of the shogunate 
and in the restoration of an imperial government, 
there was in it a greater amount of conservatism and 
opposition to modern innovations than was to be 

* Treaties and Conventiofis between yapan and Other Powers^ 
Tokyo, 1864, p. 646. 

* Treaties and Conventions between yapan and Other Powers^ 
Tokyo, 1884, p. 171. 



THE RESTORED EMPIRE, 389 

found elsewhere. Indeed, the clan had split into 
two distinct parties, the one aiding in all the reforms 
and changes which the government was attempting 
to carry out, the other holding resolutely to the old 
feudal traditions which they saw endangered by the 
present attitude of the emperor's counsellors. The 
latter party had for its leaders Shimazu Saburo and 
Saigo Takamori, both of whom had played conspic- 
uous parts in the recent history of their country. 
The government had tried to conciliate these two 
influential men and to secure their co-operation in 
the administration. But both had retired from 
Tokyo, and declined longer to share the responsi- 
bility of a course which they could not approve. 

Saigo, who was the idol of the samurai, after his 
retirement established near Kagoshima a military 
school, where the young men of that class were 
drilled in the duties of the army. Branch schools 
on the same model were also carried on in several 
other places in the province. In all it was said that 
not less than 20,000 young samurai were receiving a 
training in these dangerous schools. They were 
filled with the most violent antipathy to the govern- 
ment and were with difficulty restrained, even by 
their leaders, from outbreaks in sympathy with the 
uprisings which elsewhere were taking place. 

The government was naturally solicitous concern- 
ing these collections of inflammable material. A 
collision with the students over the removal of some 
stores of arms and ammunition, revealed their readi- 
ness to break into rebellion. It is not improbable 
that designing conspirators took advantage of the 



390 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

open and chlvalric character of SaigO to push him 
into the initiation of hostihties. Admiral Kawamura, 
himself a Satsuma man and a connection of Saigo, was 
sent down to hold an interview with him and if pos- 
sible to make a peaceful settlement. But the inter- 
view was declined. The rebellious elements were 
at once gathered together, and Saigo, at the head 
of a force of 14,000 men, started about the middle of 
February, 1877, on his march up the west coast 
of Kyushu, on his way to Tokyo. The conspirators 
estimated that a force of 30,000 troops could be 
counted on to take part in the expedition. 

The first impediment in their march was the castle 
of Kumamoto,* where the government had a garrison 
of 2,000 to 3,000 men under General Tani. Saigo 
determined to reduce it before making further prog- 
ress. He spent several weeks in this vain attempt. 
This was a precious delay for the government, which 
it spent in organizing and sending forward troops 
for opposing the advance of the rebels. All avail- 
able forces were collected and put in motion to the 
seat of war. Prince Arisugawa-no-miya was ap- 
pointed commander-in-chief and established his head- 
quarters at Fukuoka. 

The equipment of troops at the seat of govern- 
ment was under the supervision of General Saigo 
Tsugumichi, a younger brother of the rebel leader. 
Loyal as he was to his emperor, it was a painful 
task for him to organize war against his brother. 

* This castle was built by Kato Kiyomasa after his return from the 
Korean war. It still stands, being one of the most notable castles of 
Japan. 



THE RESTORED EMPIRE. 39 1 

With native delicacy he left to others the duty of 
fighting on the field, and confined himself to the less 
conspicuous part of gathering and sending troops as 
they were needed. 

The rebels had besieged Kumamoto and had al- 
ready reduced it to great straits. But the imperial 
forces came in time to its relief. There was desper- 
ate fighting, but at last the besiegers were compelled 
to withdraw. 

They retreated toward the east coast with the 
apparent purpose of seeking a way to the north by 
Hyuga and Bungo. Promptly they were followed 
and confined to a defensive attitude. The most 
desperate battles were fought in this part of the 
campaign. Though disappointed and outnumbered, 
the rebels fought with consummate bravery. They 
were almost in the shadow of the mountains where 
their celestial ancestor was fabled to have descended 
upon the Japanese islands.^ Their last stand was at 
Nobeoka in the northeast corner of Hyuga. Their 
leaders realized that to continue the contest would 
only cause unnecessary and hopeless slaughter. 

Under these circumstances Saigo saw that to end 
the fighting and save his followers he must leave 
them. Accordingly with about two hundred of 
those who were personally devoted to him, he broke 
through the imperial line and escaped to Kagoshima. 
The army, finding they were forsaken, surrendered, 
August 19, 1877. Saigo, with his little band, en- 
trenched himself on the summit of the hill Shiroyama 
overlooking Kagoshima. Here he was surrounded 
* See p. 47. 



392 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

by the imperial forces and bombarded night and 
day. The veteran leader was at last wounded in the 
thigh, and seeing that all hope of escape was gone, 
he requested one of his lieutenants to perform for 
him the friendly office of severing his head from his 
body. After the capture of the stronghold, the 
bodies of Saigo and his comrades were discoveredo 
Admiral Kawamura himself with tender hands 
washed the bloody head of his dead friend, and saw 
that the bodies of all were decently buried. Thus, 
on September 24, 1877, the last and most serious of 
the attempts which have been made to disturb the 
empire in its new career came to an end. 

There was, however, one mournful sequel to this 
rebellion. Okubo Toshimichi, a statesman and 
patriot of the purest type, had from the beginning 
resisted the reactionary movements of his clan. At 
the time of the rebelHon he was minister of Home 
Affairs and put forth all his exertions to suppress it. 
A baseless slander that he had sent to Satsuma hired 
assassins to take Saigo's hfe, had been used by the 
reckless conspirators to force the rebel leader to an 
outbreak. This was believed by many of the samurai, 
not only in Satsuma but in other provinces. On 
May 14, 1878, Tokyo was startled by the news that 
Okubo, while driving through a secluded spot in 
the old castle grounds, on his way to the emperor's 
palace, had been murdered. The assassins were from 
the province of Kaga, and gave as the reason for 
their crime their desire to avenge the death of Saigo. 
Japan could ill afford to spare at this time her most 
clear-headed statesr',an ^nd her noblest and most 
unflinching patriot. 



THE RESTORED EMPIRE. 



393 



What followed these important events must be 
told in a summary manner. There was a powerful 
and growing party in the empire, who looked for- 
ward to a modification of the absolute form of 




OKUBO TOSHIMICHI. 
(From a Photograph.) 



government to which they had returned in 1868. 
This party was particularly aggressive in the prov 
ince of Tosa. They recalled to themselves and 
others the solemn pledge which the emperor had 



394 "^^^ STORY OF JAPAN. 

given to his people in his charter oath,^ when he 
announced that " a deliberative assembly shall be 
formed, and all measures decided by public opinion." 

The ruling minds in the government feared that 
the people were too inexperienced and too unaccus- 
tomed to deciding and acting for themselves to be 
entrusted with the grave duty of constitutional gov- 
ernment. As a preparation for so important a step 
local assemblies were authorized and established in 
1878. Matters referring to the government of each 
fu and ken were to be discussed, and to a certain 
extent decided in these assemblies. It was believed 
that the experience gained in such bodies would go 
far towards preparing men for service in an imperial 
legislative body. The expectations founded on these 
local assemblies were realized and in a fair degree 
they continued to fulfil their purpose. 

In further pursuance of the plan of constitutional 
government, the emperor, on February 11, 1889, at 
his palace, promulgated a constitution ^ for his peo- 
ple. In the presence of his cabinet and court he 
took a solemn oath to govern under its limitations 
and powers. This constitution contains seven chap- 
ters consisting of one hundred and eleven articles : 
Chapter I. The Emperor ; II. Rights and Duties of 
Subjects ; III. The Imperial Diet ; IV. The Minis- 
ters of State and Privy Council; V. The Judica- 
ture ; VI. Finance ; VII. Supplementary Rules. 
The emperor also announced that the imperial diet 

^ See p. 380. 

^ This able document was prepared by Count Ito Hirobumi. An 
official translation was published at Yokohama in i88g. 




ITO HIROBUMI. 
(From a Photograph.) 



39^ THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

would be convoked in the twenty-third year of 
Meiji (1890), and that the constitution would go 
into effect at the date of its assembling. 

It would seem that no great advance can be 
secured in Japan without the sacrifice of a valua= 
ble life. As li Kamon-no-kami was murdered in 
i860, and as Okubo fell by the assassin's hand at the 
close of the Satsuma rebellion, so now on the very 
day when the emperor was to promulgate this liberal 
constitution, Viscount Mori Arinori fell a victim to 
the fanatical hatred of one who looked with distrust 
upon the progress which his country was making. 
No one could look, or did look, on this progress with 
more interest than Mori. He had so long and so 
earnestly advocated a liberal and tolerant policy in 
the councils of his country, and had been a leader in 
all that was high and noble, that we cannot regards 
except with profound regret, his untimely death. 




CHAPTER XVI. 

THE CONSTITUTION AND THE WAR WITH CHINA. 

The Constitution had been drafted by Count Ito 
Hirobumi — now the Marquis Ito — a nobleman who 
had committed the capital offence of leaving his 
country, in the days of seclusion, and not only had 
been forgiven, on his timely return, with knowledge 
of London and a view of the world, but also, by 
virtue of that knowledge, had taken a leading part 
in the new enlivenment of the nation. He was sent 
abroad again to study methods of constitutional 
government, met Bismarck, and in talk with him 
conceived the plan of administration which should 
be suited to Japanese habits of thought as he under- 
stood them. He has had the main influence in the 
interpretation of the Constitution for seventeen 
years, and his opinion of it is aptly summarized in 
words of his own: *' The Constitution will . . . 
open a wider field of activity for serving the Em- 
peror." It does not provide for a government of 
the people by the people. The Emperor, "heaven- 
descc^.ded, divine and sacred," rules his subjects, 
always for their good. He is to have respect for 
law but the law cannot hold him to account. He 

397 



398 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

does not, to be sure, except in emergencies, while 
the Diet is not sitting, originate laws, and the or- 
dinances which he proclaims in these emergencies 
cease to be laws if they are not ratified by the next 
Diet; but the sanction, promulgation, and execu- 
tion of laws are all with him. He alone de- 
clares war, makes peace, concludes treaties, confers 
distinctions. 

He is advised by a Privy Council, who deliberate 
only when called upon by him, and whose advice 
he may reject. He is advised also by his Ministers 
of State, who are, moreover, heads of administrative 
departments, and are responsible to the Emperor 
only, not to the Diet. 

The Diet is made up of two houses: the House 
of Peers and the House of Representatives. The 
House of Peers comprises (i) the members of the 
Imperial family, at majority, (2) princes and mar- 
quises, at the age of twenty-five, (3) counts, vis- 
counts, and barons, twenty-five years old, who are 
elected by their orders for terms of seven years, (4) 
citizens, thirty or more years old, nominated by 
the Emperor, for life, and (5) citizens, thirty or 
more years old, elected from each prefecture {Fu or 
Keji) among the fifteen highest tax-payers in the 
district, subject to nomination by the Emperor. 
Their term is seven years. But the numbers of 
the lower orders must not exceed the numbers of 
the nobility. 

The House of Representatives is elective. The 
election laws were announced eleven days after the 



CONSTITUTION AND WAR WITH CHINA, 399 

Constitution. They have been modified several 
times; there has been a redistribution of districts, 
and in 1902 the secret ballot was substituted for the 
signed ballot. Every citizen at the age of twenty- 
five who pays 10 yen in direct taxes is a poten- 
tial voter. Every city containing not less than 
30,000 inhabitants and every prefecture (except ur- 
ban electoral districts) is an electoral district. While 
smaller urban electoral districts (cities) are entitled 
to return one member and larger cities; containing 
more than 100,000 inhabitants are entitled to return 
one member for every 130,000 people, the rural dis- 
tricts in each prefecture send one member at the 
rate of every 130,000 people approximately. There 
is no restriction as to residence in regard to can- 
didates. The term is four years. 

This plan elects about 381 representatives, chosen 
by about seven per cent, of the adult males of Ja- 
pan. The Diet is convened by the Emperor once a 
year; the President and Vice-President of the Lower 
House are nominated by him from candidates elect- 
ed by the House, and he may send the members to 
their homes whenever he thinks best. Bills (except 
the budget, which is introduced by the Government 
in the House of Representatives first) are introduced 
by either House, or by the Government. The 
ministers may appear before the Diet to push their 
measures, but are not required to do so. 

Thus, the intention of the makers of the Constitu- 
tion was to retain in the Emperor the main force of 
administration, and this intention, based as it is upon 



400 • THE STORY OF JAPAN 

the feudal habit of thought as well as the religious 
habit of thought which dominates the Japanese, has 
prevailed to the present day. The Emperor and 
his advisers have controlled and do control Japan. 
But they have not controlled it without struggles. 
In the intermediate time, between the Restoration 
and the proclamation of the Constitution, while the 
government was experimenting with local adminis- 
tration, in order to school the people in popular 
government, there had developed parlies, with 
platforms. The Liberal party was formed in 1880. 
It insisted mainly on the equal rights of man and a 
constitutional government, with a single chamber. 
Its leader was Itagaki, called the "Rousseau of Ja- 
pan." In 1881 the Progressive party, made up 
of the intelligent middle class, led by Okuma, the 
"Peel of Japan," announced that it would support 
the throne, but also the people, and pronounced 
in favor of an Upper House. In the same year 
was organized the Constitutional Imperial party, 
led by Ito, with a platform which postulated 
the supereminence of the Emperor as the basis of 
order. 

Obviously, there was nothing reactionary in the 
principles of any of these parties; no question of 
return to the days of seclusion. The country was 
long past that. Every one desired to try West- 
ern civilization, and the main questions among 
the parties were, (i) how fast could civilization 
be tried, (2) what manifestations of it should be 
tried, and (3) who should try them. In other 



CONSTITUTION AND WAR WITH CHINA. 40I 

words, SO far as government was concerned, three 
questions presented themselves: (i) Were the 
people ready for representative government ? 
(2) Were the people ready for party government 
according to English methods; that is to say, ought 
the ministers to be responsible to the Diet instead 
of to the Emperor? (3) Should the ancient advisers 
of the Emperor, the men who had assisted in the 
revolution, the "clansmen," continue to hold office, 
or be superseded by younger and more liberal men? 
Party spirit ran riot in the first years of the Consti- 
tution. The opposition was strong enough to 
nullify the power of any ministry that would not 
concede the demands of the Lower House, and the 
Emperor prorogued and dissolved one legislature 
after another until, in 1894, an event occurred which 
caused these struggles temporarily to cease. This 
event was the war between China and Japan. 

The dissensions which gave rise to this war were 
mainly concerned with Korea. Korea had remained 
a closed country in spite of the somewhat desultory 
efforts of France and the United States to enforce 
the admission of foreigners. Early in the seven- 
teenth century, in order to avoid invasions, the 
"Hermit Nation" had consented to send tribu- 
tary missions to both China and Japan, and, after 
the Restoration, the Mikado's government sent 
a mission to the Korean regent, announcing 
the change of government. The mission was not 
received by the Regent, who abhorred the new- 
taught ideas of his neighbors. The military spirit 
26 



402 THE STOR Y OF JAPAN, 

of the samurai was aroused at this sh'ght to 
the envoys, and only by financial weakness were 
the Japanese withheld from waging immediate 
war. In 1874 the young Korean king assumed 
the throne and at first seemed inclined toward pro- 
gressive measures; but the former Regent, the Tai- 
wen-kun, regained influence over him in 1875 and 
the reactionary spirit again prevailed. In Sep- 
tember, 1875, a Korean fort fired on some sailors 
from a Japanese war-vessel which was surveying the 
coast. The Japanese bombarded the fort, and in 
1876, as is noted in a preceding chapter, sent to 
Seoul a mission, supported by some thousands of 
soldiers, and arranged a treaty which assumed the 
independence of Korea as a state, and provided for 
commerce between the signatory nations. There 
was, however, China to be considered, and she had 
by no means recognized Korea's independence; 
moreover, the Korean Government still sent a yearly 
mission to Pekin. In 1872 China had acquired a 
previously neutral territory which extended to the 
borders of the Hermit Kingdom and therefore had 
a new interest in the peninsula. Thereafter there 
was perpetual friction in Korea. The Conservative 
party, which was m power, looked to China for 
advice; the Progressive party held for Japan. A 
mission was sent to Japan in 1882 to investigate the 
new civilization, and reported so favorably as to 
enrage the Conservatives. On two occasions in two 
years the Japanese legation was attacked by them, 
and each time the Japanese sent troops to Seoul 



CONSTITUTION AND WAR WITH CHINA, 403 

and imposed an indemnity. China also, however, 
despatched troops to guard her interests. Believing 
that the Chinese had connived at the conspiracies 
against them, the Japanese sent Count Ito to China, 
and between him and Li-Hung-Chang was signed 
(April, 18 1885) the Tientsin convention, which 
provided that Chinese and Japanese troops should 
withdraw from Korea, and that before sending an 
armed force again to Seoul either country must 
inform the other. 

In 1893 there arose a religious insurrection in 
Korea and the Conservative government faction 
sent to China for protecting troops. Exasperation 
in Japan against China had been waxing. The 
Chinese Resident in the Korean capital had persist- 
ently interfered in Korean affairs, and had — or at 
least the Japanese believed that he had — hampered 
. commerce between Japan and Korea. Before send- 
ing soldiers and ships to support the Korean Gov- 
ernment the Chinese despatched a note, according 
to the Tientsin convention, to inform Japan of 
their intention ; but in that note Korea was called 
a "protectorate" and "dependency" of China, and 
the characterizations set Japan aflame. The Tien- 
tsin convention had provided that if either of the 
contracting countries should introduce troops into 
Korea the other might do likewise, and the force 
that Japan sent took possession of Seoul. 

The Japanese Government in vain invited the co- 
operation of China in establishing order, and pre- 
sented to the Korean Government a programme of 



404 THE STOR V OF JAPAN, 

reforms, suggesting that the presence of Chinese 
troops commanded by generals who had character- 
ized Korea as a "dependency" was incompatible 
with the independence of the country, which Japan, 
for her part, acknowledged. The Korean Govern- 
ment replied that the Chinese troops were present 
by its own request. Thereupon, July 22, 1894, 
the Japanese troops took possession of the royal 
palace and of the King, and caused the government 
to request Japanese aid in driving out the Chinese. 
With this, relations between China and Japan be- 
came so strained that, in spite of offers of pacification 
from foreign Powers, war was evidently at hand. 

On paper, the military strength of the Chinese, 
including the "Eight Banners," the "Green Stand- 
ard," the "Volunteers," and the "Trained Army," 
was upwards of 1,000,000 men, whereas the Japa- 
nese army comprised about 70,000 men — well drilled, 
it is true, and armed with a breech- loading rifle. 
The equipment of the Chinese, on the other hand, 
was of the most primitive character. Indeed, cer- 
tain troops were armed with bows and arrows only, 
the one division furnished with modern weapons 
being the Trained Army, which had also been some- 
what exercised in European drill. It numbered 
less than 100,000. The navy was in somewhat 
more efficient condition, having been trained by 
English officers; but of its four squadrons only 
one, tiie Pei Yang, or northern division, was con- 
cerned with the war. It consisted, at the outset of 
the struggle, of twenty-seven vessels, including two 



CONSTITUTION AND WAR WITH CHINA, 405 

battle-ships of 7400 tons. The Japanese fleet also 
comprised twenty-seven fighting craft of all kinds, 
but among them the heaviest were cruisers of 4200 
tons. 

Foreign nations followed the war with interest, 
partly because it seemed to be the contest of a 
pigmy with a giant; for although it was conceded 
among military authorities that the Japanese, with 
their superior alertness, might gain a few battles at 
first, still there was a general belief in an enormous 
latent power of the vast Chinese Empire, which 
would awake in time of need. A second cause of 
interest in the struggle was the illustrations which 
it promised to afford, particularly on the sea, of the 
efficiency of modern devices of war. 

Fighting began before war was declared. There 
was a Chinese force at Asan on the bay of Chemulpo 
southwest of Seoul; and on the 21st of July the 
Chinese Government began to send transports with 
reinforcements to these troops and to others on the 
Yalu River, the boundary between China and Korea. 
To intercept these transports, the Japanese sent 
their three fastest cruisers, the Akitsushima, Yoshino, 
and Naniwa, and on the 25th they met the Chinese 
Tsi-yuen and Kuan-yi near the coast of Korea. 
The Chinese opened fire; in an hour \.\\.q Kuan-yi 
was disabled and the Tsi-yuen fled. After the bat- 
tle the Nanizva sighted the transport Kowshingy 
flying the British flag. . This vessel, which had 
been chartered by China as a troop-ship, had on 
board 1000 soldiers, twelve guns, and Major von 



4o6 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

Hannecken, a German military adviser to the Chinese, 
Captain (afterwards Admiral) Togo of the Naniwa 
ordered the Kowshing to surrender ; the mandarins 
commanding the Chinese troops maintained that 
they would die first, and Togo sank the transport. 
Major von Hannecken and a few other Europeans 
sprang into the sea, under fire from the Chinese, 
and were rescued; but more than icx)0 persons 
were drowned. 

On the same day (July 25, 1894), General Oshima 
set forth from Seoul to confront the Chinese troops 
which had fortified a strong position near Asan. 
On the night of the 28th they stormed the re- 
doubts and drove the Chinese, under General Yeh, 
out in confusion. The Japanese returned exultant 
to Seoul after this their first land engagement 
with foreign troops for three hundred years. On 
the first of August declarations of war were issued 
by both countries. Until the middle of September 
the combatants were occupied in bringing up troops 
for the serious work of the war. The Chinese con- 
centrated forces at Ping-yang and the Yalu River, 
meaning to proceed southward and drive the Japa' 
nese into the sea. But the Japanese struck first. 
Ping-yang was a fortified city, defended by the Ti- 
dong River, and by five forts on uplands to the 
north. The Japanese advanced in three detach- 
ments. Their mixed brigade under Oshima created 
a diversion on the river front opposite the town. 
Under cover of this diversion the main army crossed 
the Ti-dong near its mouth and approached the city 



CONSTITUTION AND WAR WITH CHINA. 407 

from the west, and from the north two other detach- 
ments crossed the river and suddenly appeared 
among the hills. On the morning of the 15th these 
turned the Chinese rear at Ping-yang, captured the 
city, and drove the defenders, with heavy loss, be- 
yond the Yalu River. 

On the 17th of September occurred the great 
nayal battle for which the world had been waiting. 
The Chinese fleet, which had convoyed five troop- 
ships to the Yalu, met on their return voyage, near 
Hai-yang Island, the main squadron and the first 
flying squadron of the Japanese fleet, which had 
been sent out on a reconnoitring expedition. The 
encounter was unexpected on both sides, hut the 
fleets cleared for action. The Chinese, under Ad- 
miral Ting, had ten vessels formed in a single line 
abreast, with two battle-ships, the Chen-ytien and 
the Tiiig-yuen in the centre. The Japanese fleet, un- 
der Admiral Ito, was very uneven in point of speed. 
The four cruisers of the flying squadron could 
steam from nineteen to twenty-three knots; but the 
vessels of the main squadron ranged from nineteen 
to thirteen knots, and besides there were to be 
protected a little gunboat and an armed merchant 
steamer. The flying squadron led the column, which 
started across the Chinese front with the intention 
of attacking the weaker vessels on the right flank, 
and before this squadron had turned the line, the 
(Chinese) Ya7ig Wei was afire. At this moment two 
other Chinese vessels and six torpedo-boats appeared 
to the westward, and the flying squadron started 



408 THE S TOR y OF J A PA N, 

toward them, but they made off. In the meantime 
the main squadron passed the right wing of the 
Chinese and set on fire the Chao-yung^ which pres- 
ently sank. But the Hiyei could not keep up with 
the main Japanese squadron, and found herself in 
the midst of the Chinese fleet. The little gunboat 
Akagi went to her aid, but both vessels were in 
danger, and the flying squadron circled back to their 
aid and also to that of the Saikio Martc, the mer- 
chant steamer, which had escaped two torpedo 
attacks and was in imminent peril. The approach 
of the cruisers enabled the three weaker vessels to 
escape. Meanwhile the main squadron had passed 
entirely around the Chinese fleet, and the flying 
squadron had encircled it in the opposite direction. 
Having accomplished this, both divisions, approach- 
ing on opposite sides and from the rear, engaged 
their opponents, whose line of battle had been en- 
tirely lost. The Chih-yuen and the King-yuen were 
sunk, but the two battle-ships, the Ting-yuen and 
Chen-yiten, successfully resisted the attack of the 
entire Japanese fleet, though the flagship, the Ting- 
yuen^ was afire and the upper works of both vessels 
were wrecked with shot from the Japanese quick- 
firing guns. Sunset put an end to the battle and 
during the night the Japanese lost sight of the 
enemy. This was the first naval battle between 
modern fleets with rapid-firing guns; and because 
of the long resistance of the two iron-clads to the 
devastating attack of the Japanese quick-firers, all 
navies increased the size of their new battle-ships. 



CONSTITUTION AND WAR WITH CHINA, 4O9 

The battle has been pronounced by some critics a 
victory for the Japanese, and by others a drawn 
battle, because the Japanese did not pursue their 
victory and annihilate the rest of the Chinese fleet. 
The Chinese lost four vessels, and afterwards a fifth 
ran aground and was blown up by her crew. The 
Japanese lost no vessels, though their flagship, the 
MatsiisJiiniay suffered severely, as also did the Hiyei. 
The Chinese lost about seven hundred killed and 
about two or three hundred wounded; the Japanese 
losses were about 115 killed and 41 wounded. 
Victory or not, the combat cleared the sea of Chi- 
nese war-vessels and gave the Japanese free course 
for their transports. 

After the capture of Ping-yang the Japanese 
reorganized their forces, forming an army corps at 
the Yalu commanded by Marshal Yamagata, and 
meanwhile preparing a second army at home. On 
October 24th Yamagata crossed the river, surprised 
the Chinese under General Sung, by a flanking 
attack upon their left, and drove them back upon 
Feng-huang-cheng, where a large number of the 
Chinese soldiers deserted. General Sung burned 
the town and retreated with the remnant of his 
army to Mukden. 

During November the first army occupied itself 
with the capture of minor places in the vicinity of 
Fong-wang, breaking up the force of the fugitives of 
Sung's army at Hsin-yen, and establishing a civil ad- 
ministration in the captured territory. The advance 
on Mukden was delayed pending the operations 



4IO THE STOR Y OF J A PA N, 

of a second army, which had set forth from Japan 
against Port Arthur. It was commanded by Mar- 
shal Oyama, and left the Fai-dong River Octo- 
ber 23d. It landed on the 24th at Hua-yuan-kon, 
about forty miles northwest of Port Arthur, and 
after an expeditious march, diversified by a few 
skirmishes, arrived, November 5th, before the 
defences of Kinchow, the key of the isthmus called 
the Regent's Sword, that connects the peninsula 
upon which Port Arthur is situated with the main- 
land. On the 6th, with no men killed and but few 
wounded. General Yamaji had taken the town, and, 
as the Japanese entered, the Chinese fled to Port 
Arthur by the western gate. Next day, advancing 
upon the forts which defended the very narrowest 
part of the isthmus, along the coast of Ta-Iien Bay, 
the victorious army frightened the defenders away, 
though the forts were of modern construction and 
heavily armed. The fleet had intended to assist the 
army in the reduction of these forts, and had en- 
tered Ta-lien Bay on the morning of the 7th of 
November, timidly, for fear of torpedoes. It even 
fired a few shots at the forts before it saw the Jap- 
anese flags waving above them. With the control 
of the bay and the isthmus the Japanese had the 
garrison of Port Arthur "enclosed in a bag." 

After ten days of preparation they resumed their 
march toward the stronghold. During the four days 
of progress to the outermost line of the defences 
several skirmishes took place, and here the Chinese 
showed some spirit, even making a sortie with 3000 



CONSTITUTION AND WAR WITH CHINA, 4II 

men upon a Japanese regiment — an attack which 
was, however, immediately repulsed. 

Port Arthur is one of the strongest fortresses in 
the world. It is surrounded by successive ranges 
of hills crowned by forts. The most important of 
these forts were those on Itzu Shan, Antzu Shan, 
and Wang-tai at the west, that on Sungshu Shan, 
and further to the eastward, extending in a south- 
erly direction, those of Ehrlung Shan. On the 
Tiger's Tail — a strip of land which forms the 
southern boundary of the harbor — were eight 
forts, but they had no part in the defence of the 
town. Each of these forts was heavily equipped 
with modern guns, and the garrison numbered 
more than 13,000. 

With a garrison of more warlike troops, the cap- 
ture of such a place must have been a matter of 
weeks, if not of months, as indeed subsequent 
events showed; but the Chinese yielded after one 
day of fighting. On the night of the 20th of No- 
vember the field-guns of General Yamaji arrived, 
and at daybreak opened fire. Forty guns were 
assigned to the fortifications to the west, and in 
about an hour the return fire from the first fort 
ceased, and the Japanese infantry stormed the posi- 
tion. The defenders fled. General Yamaji at once 
brought up field-pieces to command Sungshu Shan, 
and that fort fell at eleven in the morning. 

The assailing force at Ehrlung Shan had harder 
fighting, but at half-past twelve it drove out the 
defenders, and the way was opened to Port Arthur. 



412 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

There remained only a fort on Huang-Chin-shan, 
and the forts on the Tiger's Tail. The former had 
heavy coast guns, which had been well served dur- 
ing the morning, but in a single charge, the Jap- 
anese were masters of the hill. 

The Chinese fled from the city and during the 
night abandoned the works on the Tiger's Tail. 
They had put to death with torture many Japanese 
prisoners, whose limbs, impaled on stakes, con- 
fronted their comrades, and the victorious troops 
could not be restrained from retaliation. They 
looted the town, and put to death a considerable 
number of the inhabitants. 

The fall of Port Arthur, which gave to the Japa- 
nese a fine naval base of operations, with admirably 
equipped docks, startled the Chinese Government, 
which sent, rather informally, an envoy to ascer- 
tain upon what terms the Japanese would treat for 
peace. He was not, however, received. 

In the meantime, the first army, in Manchuria, 
repelled a Tartar force, under General Iko-ten-ga, 
from the northwest, and a descent on the part of 
the Chinese, from the Motien pass ; and, resuming the 
offensive, pushed forward (December 13th) to Hai- 
cheng, on the road of communications between 
Peking and Mukden. There were Chinese forces at 
Liao-yang at the northeast, Nuchwang at the 
northwest, and Ying-kow at the southwest; and 
during the rest of the war the Japanese were oc- 
cupied in preventing their junction. They de- 
feated General Sung, who was advancing from 



CONS TITUTION AND WAR WI TH CHINA . 4 1 3 

Ying-kow with about 10,000 men, In a battle in the 
snow at Kang-na-sai on the 19th of December. It 
was one of the most stubbornly fought contests of 
the war, and the losses were nearly equal. A Chi- 
nese army of 20,000 men approached Hai-cheng in 
Januaiy, but never made any serious attack. 

The second army, at Port Arthur, had been pre- 
paring for a northward advance, and on the loth of 
January, 1895, a mixed brigade under General 
Nogi, after sharp fighting, occupied Kaiping. The 
Chinese opposition was more steadfast in this than 
in previous battles and their marksmanship had im- 
proved. The occupation of Kaiping furnished a 
good support for Katsura, at Hai-cheng, and the 
armies rested for some weeks. 

Meanwhile the Japanese turned their attention to 
Wei-hai-wei, which, with Port Arthur opposite, 
guarded the gulf of Pechili. The Chinese fleet had 
taken refuge in this harbor, and if it could be 
captured, troops could be transported freely to 
Taku. The road to Peking, which the Japanese 
ardently desired to capture, would thus be greatly 
shortened. The entrances of the bay, at the east and 
west of a large island, had been closed by double 
booms made of hawsers of steel wire and protected 
by torpedoes. The land defences on the south 
consisted of seven forts, and on the north of five. 
On Liu Kung Island there were two forts, and on a 
smaller island, Gih Island, one. The garrison of 
the stronghold was about 10,000 men. In the har- 
bor were twenty-six vessels, including the two 



414 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

battle-ships the Ting-yuen and the Chen-yueUy seven 
other war-vessels, eleven torpedo-boats, and six 
gunboats. 

On the 19th of January, fifty transports, convoyed 
by the greater part of the Japanese fleet, crossed to 
Yung Cheng, a town a few miles to the eastward of 
Wei-hai-wei. Upon the previous day three Japa- 
nese vessels had made a diversion at Teng Chou, 
about a hundred miles west of the objective point, 
and had drawn the attention of the Chinese in that 
direction, so that the landing of the Japanese was 
opposed by only one battery, which was presently 
silenced by the guns of the fleet. On the 26th of 
January the landing was completed, and the Japa- 
nese advanced toward the forts. From the land 
forces the opposition was unimportant ; but as the 
Japanese occupied position after position the Chi- 
nese fleet in the harbor harassed them. Owing to 
the state of the roads, the assailants could carry no 
siege guns, and had to rely on the artillery captured 
in the forts to reply to the fire of the war-vessels. 
The guns in the western forts were destroyed by 
the Chinese sailors themselves. In the eastern forts, 
however, there were captured twelve powerful 
pieces, and with them the Chinese vessels were con- 
fined in the extremity of the harbor. By the ist 
of February the land defences had been captured, 
and the Chinese ships were surrounded. Cut ofT 
by Admiral Ito's fleet from leaving the harbor, 
and opposed on shore by a strong Japanese force, 
they were nevertheless out of reach of gun-fire and 



CONSTITUTION AND WAR WITH CHINA, 415 

were in no apparent peril, for the entrance to the 
harbor was defended by the forts on Liu Kung 
Island. On the night of the 3d of February the 
Japanese opened a passage between the boom and 
the shore. Before daybreak on the 5th, ten tor- 
pedo-boats attempted to enter the harbor. Five 
were injured, three were lost, and one was aban- 
doned; but the Chinese flagship, the Ting-yuen, 
was torpedoed and sank to her decks in the morning. 
On the 6th of February, at four in the morning, five 
other torpedo-boats entered the harbor, and, firing 
seven torpedoes, destroyed the Lai-yuen^ the Wel- 
yuen, and a gunboat, and withdrew without loss. 

These disasters demoralized the Chinese, and on 
the 7th, after the Japanese had blown up the maga- 
zine on Gih Island, the Chinese torpedo-boats fled 
through the western entrance of the harbor, only 
to be captured by Japanese cruisers. Admiral Ting 
still resisted, hoping for reinforcements. On the 
9th the Chiiig-yuen, which had advanced to shell the 
captured forts, was sunk. On the nth the Chinese 
admiral received word from Li-Hung-Chang that no 
aid need be expected, and on the 12th he surren- 
dbred the remainder of his ships and committed sui- 
cide. The generals of the Chinese on Liu Kung 
Island also killed themselves. By the terms of sur- 
render the Chinese garrison and the officers of the 
navy were set free. 

In the course of the preparations for the expedi- 
tion against Wei-hai-wei, China had prepared a 
second peace embassy, which arrived in Japan 



41 6 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

January 31, 1895. It consisted of two envoys and 
a large staff, including an American adviser, Mr. 
Foster, but it did not have powers to accede to the 
full demands of the Japanese without further com- 
munication with the Tsung-li-Yamen, and negotia- 
tions failed. 

The Chinese from Nuchwang and Liao-yang 
made several attacks upon the Japanese at Hai- 
cheng, but these were easily repulsed, and during 
the latter part of February, General Yamaji having 
joined General Nogi at Kaiping, and General Kat- 
sura at Hai-cheng having been reinforced, the 
Japanese in turn moved forward. The second army 
had pushed forward to Taiping Shan, had attacked 
the Chinese intrenchments at the point of the bayo- 
net, and had driven General Sung back to Po-miao- 
tzu, thus preventing his co-operation with the 
Nuchwang and Liao-yang armies. 

On the 28th of February Katsura began opera- 
tions for the separation of the latter forces. In a 
series of encounters he pushed back the Liao-yang 
army and pursued it until the second ^{ March. 
Then he turned, and, on the 4th, attacked Nuch- 
wang on the northwest and east. Here the Chinese 
resisted vigorously with Gatling guns, and, even 
after the Japanese had entered the town, delivered 
a house-to-house combat until almost midnight, 
killing forty-two Japanese and wounding 174, but 
losing more than 1800, mainly in their retreat. The 
Japanese took 2000 prisoners, and captured a 
quantity of ammunition and several guns. On the 



CONS TITUTION A ND WA R WI TH CHINA . 4 1 / 

7th of March General Yamaji occupied Ying-kow, 
which had been evacuated by General Sung, who 
had retreated northwestward to Tien-chwang-tai ; 
and here on the 9th of March the combined Japa- 
nese armies routed his forces, destroying, during the 
battle and the retreat, more than 2000 men. 

This was the last important battle of the war. 
On the 19th of March a new embassy, headed by Li- 
Hung-Chang and accompanied by General Foster, 
Wu-Ting-Fang, and a suite of 132 persons, arrived 
at Shimonoseki provided with full powers to make a 
treaty. In the course of the negotiations, on the 
24th of March, a fanatic shot the Chinese envoy in 
the cheek. The Japanese were excessively morti- 
fied at this breach of hospitality; the envoy received 
more than 10,000 letters of sympathy and the Mi- 
kado proclaimed an armistice in Manchuria, Pechili, 
and Shan-tung until the 20th of April. The wound 
was found not to be dangerous, negotiations were 
soon resumed, and on the 1 7th of April the treaty was 
signed. On the 8th of May it was ratified at Che- 
foo. It provided for an indemnity of 300,000,000 yen 
and the concession to Japan of Formosa, the Pes- 
cadores Islands, and the Liao-tung Peninsula, in- 
cluding Port Arthur. 

But the Powers feared that the possession of Port 
Arthur would give Japan too much influence in 
China, Germany, France, and Russia jointly 
requested Japan to leave the peninsula to China, 
and to this the Mikado and his advisers consented, 
without candition 




CHAPTER XVII. 

THE STRUGGLE WITH RUSSIA. 

The efificiency of the Japanese arms had raised 
the country in the estimation of the Powers, and 
one of the first results of the war was a revision of 
the treaties between Japan and the other nations, 
including particularly the abolition of extra-terri- 
torial jurisdiction, which was especially galling to 
Japanese pride. The statesmen of the country had 
made every effort to show to the world that the 
Japanese differed in no essential way from European 
peoples, and deserved the treatment accorded to 
civilized nations. They had revised their entire 
legal code according to European models, had or- 
ganised a police system, had joined the International 
Postal Union, had even encouraged the adoption of 
European clothes, and in short, had made every 
effort to demonstrate their equality in civilization 
with Occidental races. 

After 1872, when, according to the treaties signed 
with the Tokugawa government, Japan might de- 
mand a modification of her agreements with the 
Powers, several attempts to gain such modifications 

418 



THE STRUGGLE WITH RUSSIA. 419 

were made; but for one reason or another none 
succeeded until the establishment of the courts of 
justice in 1894, and the exhibition of Japan's prow- 
ess in war. England, indeed, signed a treaty on 
equal terms before the war (July, 1894). Dur- 
ing the war, the United States signed a similar 
agreement, and the other Powers followed. All of 
these treaties were to come in force in May, 1899, 
and to hold for twelve years. Extra-territoriality 
was abolished in all parts of Japan. Foreigners 
were to be judged by Japanese courts, according to 
Japanese law, and were permitted to live anywhere 
in Japan and to hold movable property. The cus- 
toms tariff was arranged by separate treaty with 
each nation, and differed, of course, with regard to 
the character of the imports and exports of each 
country; but the most- favored -nation clause, 
which is reciprocal and unconditional in all treaties, 
produced a certain uniformity in the rates. 

Controversies in the Diet began again immedi- 
ately after the war, at first on the question, osten- 
sibly at least, of the retrocession of the Liao-tung 
Peninsula. In 1898 Russia leased Port Arthur for 
twenty-five years, and England promptly leased 
Wei-hai-wei. These occupations were used as tools 
by the opposition, which desired to remove from 
power the **clansmen," who had not, it was alleged, 
properly upheld Japanese claims to the territory 
captured by Japanese armies. In 1898 the Liberal 
and Progressive parties joined forces under the name 
of the Constitutional party, which had a majority 



420 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

in the House of Representatives and was led by 
chiefs trained in parliamentary tactics. Marquis 
Ito, who was the Minister President of the Cabinet, 
resigned; and at his suggestion, for the first time, 
an opposition Cabinet was formed, including Okuma 
and Itagaki. Advocates of party government ex- 
pected much from this Cabinet, but it could not, or 
at least did not, overcome dissensions, and fell in 
six months. There succeeded a Conservative gov- 
ernment, with Yamagata as Minister President, 
which lasted until 1900, when Ito was again called 
to face the Boxer riots in China. In 1901 there 
was formed a combination of parties under the name 
of the Association of Friends of the Constitution 
{Rikkcn-Seiyii-kai). It made friends with Ito, 
who insisted, however, that the principle of parlia- 
mentary cabinets should be abandoned. Ito's 
ministry fell before the year was out, on the ques- 
tion of raising a foreign loan for military expansion ; 
and Katsura took his place as Minister President, 
while Ito became President of the Privy Council, 
whose advice the Emperor usually follows. The 
Katsura ministry was chosen mainly from the Up- 
per House, without regard to party sympathies, 
and remained in power until 1906, when it gave 
place to a government under Saionji, which con- 
tinued the policy of its predecessor. There was 
no question of the responsibility of ministers 
to the Diet; that problem v/as obscured by the 
more vital considerations of war with Russia. 

By this time, the effort of the Japanese to take 



THE STRUGGLE WITH RUSSIA, 42 1 

advantage of the ultimate manifestations of Western 
civilization had begun to produce its effect. Relay 
after relay of young men, and a few young women, 
had returned to their homes from universities in the 
United States and England and Germany, informed 
as to the laws, sciences, and industrial developments 
of the West. Under the guidance, and for many 
years under the instruction, of foreign teachers, a 
system of schools had been established. There were 
upwards of 27,000 public schools, with compulsory 
education up to the age of ten. There were about 
three hundred secondary schools, including seventy 
schools for girls. There were about sixty normal 
schools, and two State Universities, one at Tokyo, 
the other at Kyoto. Among the children of school 
age, more than ninety-three /^r r^;?/?^?/? were avail- 
ing themselves of school privileges. In most of the 
schools, Japanese teachers had displaced the foreign 
instructors. The medical and engineering colleges 
had begun to produce the extraordinary results 
which were apparent in the war with Russia, in 
which the Japanese doctors proved themselves the 
equals of any in the world. Comparative freedom 
of the press was permitted, and an extraordinary 
number of newspapers sprung up, which presently 
began to exert a considerable political and educa- 
tional influence, particularly the Nichi Nichi, the 
Kokumin^ the Hochi, the Jiji, the Nippon, ^nd the 
Mainichi. 

No less eager were the Japanese to avail them- 
selves of foreign knowledge in the development of 



422 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

industrial affairs; but here solid progress was less 
rapid than it had been in educational, military, and 
administrative matters, because the class affected 
was less accustomed to self-discipline than were the 
samurai. Baron Shibusawa, who developed the 
company system, describes the Japanese as impul- 
sive, impatient, disinclined to union, and not trained 
in such business honesty as was demanded by other 
nations. These traits, he says, "make it hard for 
the people to achieve business success." That suc- 
cess has, besides, been hampered by lack of capital 
on the part of the Japanese. Nevertheiess, progress 
in these matters was by no means slow. After 
the payment of the indemnity from China, indeed, 
which was spent mainly in developing the resources 
of the country, there ensued a period of exceedingly 
rapid expansion, which brought on a collapse and 
depression in 1900 and 1901. The banking system 
was developed and perfected. The gold standard 
was adopted. A special bank was established for 
the purpose of making loans on immovable property, 
thus furnishing capital for the development of agri- 
culture and manufactures. The main industries of 
the country had always been agricultural ; about six- 
ty /^r centum of the population are farmers. After 
the restoration, however, and particularly after the 
promulgation of the Constitution which permitted 
every Japanese to change his residence as he pleased, 
the population began to drift toward the cities. 
Manufacturing increased rapidly. Foreign machinery 
was imported. Great industrial centres were de- 



THE STRUGGLE WITH RUSSIA, 423 

veloped. The main industries were the raising 
and manufacture of silk, the raising of rice and tea, 
and the manufacture of cotton. Ship-building was 
enlivened after the Chinese War, and several com- 
panies were organized, some of which had, before 
the Russian War, docks capable of receiving vessels 
of 8000 to 10,000 tons. Steamship companies 
also flourished, one of which, the Nippon-Yusen 
Kaisha, had developed services of commodious 
steamers to Bombay, London, Antwerp, Hong 
Kong, Seattle, and Melbourne. The government 
aided in ' the development of ship-building, 
organizing shipyards and afterwards turning 
them over to private companies. One of these 
yards, the Kawasaki, at Kobe, ultimately built 
a plant capable of turning out ships of 20,000 
tons. In the government yards, also, of which 
the largest is at Yokosuka, several war-ships have 
been built. 

The government also took in hand the develop- 
ment of mining and organized a school of mines. 
Government experiments with mining, however, 
proved to be unprofitable; but concessions were 
made to private corporations, which flourished, pro- 
ducing gold, silver, copper, hematite, quicksilver, oil, 
and other mineral productsin considerable quantities. 

Railways were first built by the government 
in 1872, but within ten years a number of private 
corporations started up, and by the beginning of 
the Russian War there were more than four thousand 
miles of track in the Empire. 



424 THE S TOR Y OF J A PA N, 

Every kind of foreign custom or device was made 
welcome. Tlie bicycle and the telephone had a 
great popularity. Electric railroads were built in 
several cities, and even in parts of the country. 
Brick structures, lighted by electricity and equipped 
with the most modern improvements, were built 
for ofifices; the clerks wore coats and trousers 
during office hours and returned at night to their 
native houses, took off their shoes, assumed their 
native clothing, and sat down upon their white 
mats to their native rice and fish. To the eye the 
experiments of this ancient people with modern 
devices present a spectacle of incongruities. But, as 
those who have guided the nation point out, it is 
merely a season of trial; those things which are not 
suitable for Japanese civilization are to be dis- 
carded; those that survive to be retained — with 
improvements. 

As soon as the Chinese War was over, foreseeing 
possible complications with Russia, Ito and Yama- 
gata set about a reorganization of the army and 
navy, with the plan of doubling the force of soldiers 
by 1905, and the sea power by 1904. The army 
was to consist of three divisions — the active army, 
liable for foreign service, in which every able-bodied 
man twenty years of age should serve three years; 
the first reserve, with a service of four years and 
four months; the second reserve, with a service of 
five years more. At the expiration of service, the 
men mustered out were to join the second division, 
the National Army for home defence. The navy 



THE S TR UGGLE WITH R US SI A . 42 5 

at the beginning of the war with Russia consisted 
of six battle-ships, six armored cruisers, fourteen 
protected cruisers, forty torpedo-boats^ and twenty- 
four destroyers, besides more than fifty transports 
and other auxiliary vessels. 

The first trial of the efficiency of the new troops 
came in 1900, when the Chinese association called 
the "Boxers," attempting to drive foreigners from 
China, mastered Peking, killed the Japanese Secre- 
tary of Legation and the German Minister, besieged 
the other Ministersof foreign Powers in the legations, 
and overran a considerable part of the Pechili prov- 
ince, including the city of Tientsin. The Powers 
hastily sent troops to the relief of the legations. 
England desired to intrust the Japanese with the 
entire responsibility of rescuing the besieged minis- 
ters, and Japan was ready to take the responsibility, 
provided that she should have the moral support of 
the other Powers. But this was not granted, and a 
mixed force of Japanese, Americans, English, Ger- 
mans, French, and Russians, in a short campaign, cap- 
tured the Chinese forts at Taku, drove the Chinese 
from Tientsin, and finally entered Peking in time to 
save the larger number of the defenders of the lega- 
tions. In every engagement the Japanese troops 
were to the fore: they were first to enter Taku and 
Tsin, and voluntarily undertook the assault upon 
the most difficult gates of the capital. Moreover, 
after the occupation of the city, when the soldiers 
of all the other nations looted the Chinese more or less 
freely, the Japanese refrained entirely from plunder. 



420 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

The "Boxer" insurrection was by no means con- 
fined to Pechili. Disturbances occurred also in 
Manchuria, endangering the Russian trans-Siberian 
railroad; and Russia sent a force which occupied 
Blagovestchenk, overran Manchuria, and at last 
took possession of Neuchwang. When the Powers, 
having established order in Peking, withdrew their 
forces in 1901, Russia maintained her occupation 
of Manchuria, promising, however, to abandon it 
to China, in three evacuations, at intervals of six 
months, beginning October 8, 1902, and ending 
October 8, 1903. The first evacuation was accom- 
plished on time ; but the second was not, and, in the 
face of the protest of the Powers, Russia began to 
send troops into Manchuria, to protect, it was 
alleged, concessions for wood-cutting, granted to 
private corporations in Manchuria and Korea — cor- 
porations in which, it was rumored, the Grand 
Dukes of Russia, and even the Tzar were interested. 
At the same time Russian agents tried to wring a 
promise from China that no other Power should be 
allowed to occupy Manchuria, after the Russian 
withdrawal, and even that no ports should be newly 
opened to foreign consuls. The principle of the 
open door in China had been insisted on by the 
Powers, and in 1902, in a treaty of alliance between 
England and Japan (which provided that when one 
of the signatory nations should be at war with two 
other nations, it should have armed support from 
the ally) the maintenance of this principle in China 
and Korea had been prescribed. 



THE STRUGGLE WITH RUSSIA. 427 

In August, 1903, Admiral Alexieff was nominated 
by imperial ukase Viceroy of the Amur and Kwang- 
tung territories, and on the appointed date, the 
Russian soldiers had made no movement toward 
evacuation. Under the advice of the Powers, 
China demanded their withdrawal. Russia refused 
to evacuate the province without a guarantee from 
China that her terms as to the ' ' closed door' ' should 
be accepted, and moreover began negotiations with 
Korea for a lease of Yongampo, which was to have 
been an open port. There ensued a diplomatic 
correspondence between Russia and Japan, the 
latter Power believing its interests in Korea and 
Manchuria to be endangered by the Russian 
occupation. 

The Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Baron 
Komura, offered to come to an agreement with 
Russia to "respect the independence and territorial 
integrity of the Chinese and Korean empires," 
recognizing the special interests of Russia in Man- 
churia, and of Japan in Korea, but maintaining that 
Japan and other Powers must not be "impeded in 
the enjoyment of rights and privileges acquired by 
them under existing treaties with China." The 
replies of Count Lamsdorff to the Japanese pro- 
position came slowly, and meantime Russia was 
hurrying troops into Manchuria. Popular feeling in 
Japan was somewhat at fever heat; indeed, as a 
writer describes it, for months the government had 
been sitting on the safety-valve. At last, on 
February 5th, the Japanese Minister to Russia, 



428 THE S TOR Y OF J A PAN, 

Baron Kurino received instructions to leave St. 
Petersburg, and communicated them to Count 
Lamsdorff.' 

Japan was quite ready for this struggle. For 
many years the War Department had been taking 
thought of little else. Its maps showed every 
elevation and depression of the ground in Korea 
and Manchuria. The equipment of its armies was 
perfect, so far as inspection could make it so. Its 
new powder invented by Dr. Shimose had been 
subjected to severe tests. Its soldiers had been 
drilled patiently to fight intelligently, as well as 
desperately. Particularly its system of communi- 
cations had been organized; throughout the en- 
suing war, the soldiers never lacked cartridges 
nor food. Its hospital corps won the admiration of 
all nations. The weakness of the Japanese armies 
was perhaps in cavalry, which was not heavy 
enough to endure the charge of the tall Russians, 
but that was not due to lack of care on 
the part of the Japanese. They had made experi- 
ments in raising horses of all kinds, and had devel- 
oped powerful chargers, but the backs of these 
proved too broad for the short men of Nippon, and 
so, perforce, lighter horses had to be used. At the 
outset of the war, fifty transports were waiting to 
carry the first army to Korea, and every item of 
cargo was waiting to be put aboard. 

^ A translation of the correspondence between Japan and Russia 
over the points of difference that resulted in the war will be found 
in Appendix V. 



THE STRUGGLE WITH RUSSIA, 429 

As in the Chinese War, so in this war between 
Russia and Japan it is said that the first shot was 
fired by the Russians, and fired before official 
declaration of war had been made. The gunboat 
Korietz was lying, with the cruiser Variag^ in 
the harbor of Chemulpo, on the 8th of February, 
1904. A shot from her was directed toward the 
Japanese convoy of a fleet of transports, carrying 
troops to Korea. The Japanese did not reply and 
the troops were landed; but on the next morning, 
Rear-Admiiral Uriu, in command of the Japanese 
squadron, sent word to the Russians that war ex- 
isted, and that they must leave neutral waters before 
noon or be sunk in the harbor. In the face of an 
overwhelming force the two vessels left the harbor, 
and were destroyed within an hour. Meanwhile at 
Port Arthur on the night of February 8th a Japanese 
torpedo flotilla had damaged the Russian battle-ships 
Retvisan and TsarewitcJi, and the cruiser Pallada, 
and in the course of the next night seriously injured 
the cruisers Diana, Askold, and Novik. These mis- 
fortunes aroused Russian energy. A state of war 
was proclaimed on the loih of February. General 
Kuropatkin was presently appointed to the military 
command of Manchuria, and Admiral Makaroff was 
sent to take over the Port Arthur squadron. In the 
meantime Admiral Togo was hammering at this fleet. 
On February 14th his torpedo-boats disabled the 
cruiser Boyarin. Several brave attempts on the 
part of the Japanese to close the entrance of Port 
Arthur by sinking vessels in it, however, failed. 




430 



ADMIRAL TOGO. 
(From a Photograph.) 



THE S TR UGGLE WITH R US SI A . 43 1 

But on April 13th a new serious disaster befell the 
Russians. Admiral Makaroff was enticed to sea in 
chase of certain Japanese vessels, and his flagship, 
the Petropavlovsk, struck a Japanese mine, which 
had been laid in the probable Russian course, and 
sank. The Admiral, the main hope of the Russian 
navy, was drowned, with the greater part of his 
crew, as was also the eminent painter Verestchagin. 
Eighty persons were saved. 

From Vladivostok a Russian squadron of four 
cruisers ranged along the Korean coast, sank a Jap- 
anese vessel at Gensan, and a Japanese transport, 
eluded for some time Admiral Kamimura, who had 
been sent to oppose it, and threatened a descent 
upon Japanese territory. But on June 27th the 
Japanese Admiral met them, sank one of their ves- 
sels, the Ruriky and drove two others back to 
Vladivostok. The fourth ran aground and sank 
in April. 

Admiral Togo, with the principal Japanese fleet, 
had been watching the Russian vessels at Port 
Arthur. His own fleet had not escaped catastro- 
phe. On April 15th, in a fog, a Japanese cruiser, 
the Kasuga, had rammed the Yoshino and sunk her, 
and the battle-ships Yashima and Hatsuse had struck 
Russian mines and had been lost. But Togo had 
kept the Russian fleet shut up in Port Arthur, so 
that the Japanese could, without danger, transport 
their armies to the continent for the land campaign. 
One of these armies had begun the siege of Port 
Arthur, and as it pressed the stronghold closer, the 



43 2 THE STOR Y OF JAPAN, ' 

Russian vessels made several efforts to escape from 
the harbor and join the small squadron at Vladi- 
vostok. On June 23d Togo drove the entire fleet 
back into port, but on August loth it made another 
attempt to escape. This time the Japanese scattered 
its units, and nullified its power. The Pallada and 
Novik sank, the Sevastopol, Retvisa?i, Poltava, and 
Peresviet returned to Port Arthur, and the other 
vessels fled to neutral ports, where they were 
disarmed. 

The operations on land had been pushed no less 
successfully and systematically. Everything, down 
to the smallest details, was prepared for the 
concentration and transportation of the first 
arm)^ and in the beginning of April it had landed 
in Korea, and had driven the Russians beyond the 
Yalu River. General Kuroki, in command of this 
force of 40,000 men, concentrated at Wiju. On 
the opposite bank of the river the Russians under 
General Sassulitch, with 10,000 men, had forti- 
fied the heights, meaning to delay the Japanese 
advance as long as possible, so that troops might be 
sent over^the Siberian railroad to reinforce General 
Kuropatkin, and, when his position was no longer 
tenable, to retire. The rapidity of march of the 
Japanese, however, turned his retreat into disaster. 
Kuroki encompassed both the right and the left 
flanks of the Russians, and drove them back along 
the road to Liao-yang. The Japanese reserves, 
marching quickly, caught up with the rear-guard of 
the Russians on three sides, and captured twenty- 




433 



GENERAL KUROKI. 
(From a Photograph.) 



434 ^^^ ^^OR y OF JAPAN, 

one guns, six Maxims, and looo prisoners. The 
Japanese lost lOOO, the Russians 4500. Kuroki 
pursued to Feng-huang-cheng and occupied the 
Motien-ling, the pass over the hills to the plains, 
beyond Liao-yang. On July 4th and 17th the 
Russians tried to retake this pass, without success. 
The first army, now in a position to menace Kuro- 
patkin's rear, in case he should advance with his 
whole army toward Port Arthur, rested for several 
weeks. 

During this campaign the second Japanese army, 
under General Oku, had been landing in the Liao- 
tung Peninsula, at Yentao Bay. On May 5th the 
commander despatched a column to take possession 
of Port Adams, and the railroad to Port Arthur. 
The other divisions, landing farther south, ap- 
proached KInchow. As in the Chinese War, Kin- 
chow guarded the isthmus leading to the peninsula, 
and it was more strongly fortified by far than it had 
been under the Chinese. Ten forts, with seventy 
heavy guns, eight machine guns, and two batteries 
of quick-firing rifles defended Nan Shan, on an 
eminence to the southward of the city, with a gar- 
rison of 15,000 men. The Japanese army of about 
45,000, of whom, however, not all were in action, 
extended across the land from Kinchow Bay to the 
Korean Sea. On May 26th, supported by four 
gunboats in Kinchow Bay, Oku hurled one attack 
after another against the hill, only to lose his men 
among the barbed wire entanglements at its foot. 
In the late afternoon no important advantage had 



THE STRUGGLE WITH RUSSIA, 435 

been gained by the assailants. But, just before 
sundown, the fourth division, forming the right 
wing, under General Ogawa, waded through the 
shallows of Kinchow Bay to the Russian left, and 
suddenly appeared upon the heights. The first and 
third divisions, the centre and left, encouraged, 
charged once more, and by seven o'clock the Rus- 
sians had abandoned their seventy-eight guns, and 
were retiring to Port Arthur. The Japanese lost 
3500 men in their fight of sixteen hours; the Rus- 
sians, about 2000. 

The fall of Nan Shan uncovered the port of Dalny, 
with its fine dock, which was abandoned by the 
Russians and occupied by Oku on the 29th. With 
fresh troops from Japan, and a part of Oku's force, 
an army was formed under the command of General 
Nogi, to capture Port Arthur. Oku, with the 
greater part of his command, pushed northward, 
and defeated General Stackelberg, who had been 
sent to attack him, at Tilissu on June 14th and 
15th, capturing sixteen guns. On July 25th he 
fought his way to Tashih-shiao where he defeated a 
Russian force under Kuropatkin himself; on July 
27th he pushed on to Nuchwang, driving the 
Russians back to Hai-cheng. 

A third Japanese army, under General Nodzu, 
which had been landed at Takushan, had made its 
way northward, by way of the Fenshon-ling, to 
Kaiping, had taken the town after three days of 
hard fighting, and now co-operated with Oku against 
Hai-cheng. After this had been accomplished. 



436 THE STOR Y OF JAPAN. 

Kuropatkin withdrew his forces to Liao-yang, leav- 
ing a rear-guard at An-shan-chau, 

By August 24th, at the end of the rainy season, 
the three Japanese armies were ready to advancCo 
On the right was Kuroki. In the centre and on 
the left Nodzu and Oku had forced the Russians 
from An-shan-chau, and Oku was closing in upon 
Kuropatkin's right. General Oyama was in com.- 
mand of the combined Japanese force, which pressed 
back the Russians upon their formidable defences 
at Liao-yang, and began to assault these, August 
30th, on the south and southwest, while Kuroki 
moved northward, with the object of pushing to the 
Russian rear and cutting off his retreat. Thus he 
separated from the second army, and exposed him- 
self to the attack of Kuropatkin's whole force. But 
the Russian was not prepared to throw himself be- 
tween the armies. For the moment the attack of 
the centre and left armies occupied him. 

This attack began with an artillery duel, involving 
more than 1000 guns on both sides, followed by 
persistent infantry charges from Oku and Nodzu 
against the outer redoubts, which were set upon 
hills and defended by barbed wire entanglements, 
pits containing stakes, and other devices for ham- 
pering the Japanese rushes. During this day these 
rushes made no important gain; but by the 31st 
Oku had brought up the five-inch rifles captured at 
Nan Shan, and his artillery fire was more efTeo 
tive. The Japanese guns were probably better 
served than the Russian, and the "Shimose" pow- 



THE S TR UGGLE WITH R US SI A . 43 / 

der proved to be a manageable and powerful explo- 
sive. Nevertheless, the Russian guns were never 
quite silenced, and one rush after another was re- 
pelled. At seven in the evening Oku sent in vain, 
for the third time in twenty-four hours, his entire 
line against the entrenchments. A fourth attack 
was planned for three in the morning. But mean- 
while Kuroki's movement to the north threatened 
to cut the Russian communications, and Kuropat- 
kin, drawing off part of his force to confront 
the first army, ordered the abandonment of the first 
and second southern positions. Oku's men entered 
the works without opposition. On the 2d of Sep- 
tember began another stubborn attack, without 
perceptible advantage to the Japanese. It was 
renewed during the night and during the next day, 
when the Japanese left began to shell the town and 
the railroad bridge. In the evening the central 
army rushed one after another of the Russian forts, 
and at 12.20 of September 4th took possession of 
the northern portion of the town. The Russians 
had fled, and Oku on the left seized the railroad 
bridge at 3.30. 

Meanwhile, Kuroki had crossed the Tai-tse and 
threatened the Russian line of withdrawal. He 
occupied Hyentai, a low hill, the central point 
among several elevations, which lay between the 
Japanese front and the railroad. Among these hills, 
particularly at Hyentai, occurred desperate strug- 
gles. The hill was occupied and retaken by one 
party or another, mainly in night hand-to-hand 



438 THE S TOR V OF J A PA N, 

attacks. It was in the hands of the Japanese on 
the night of the fourth. But by this time Kuropat- 
kin's entire force, except a small rear-guard, had 
crossed the river. Kuroki could not hope to give 
it battle, unsupported as he was by the other armies, 
but, as it retreated, pursued to the Hun River, 
where both forces paused to take breath. About 
180,000 men on each side had been engaged in the 
battle. Both armies were tired out. Neither had 
slept for six days. The Russians were too weary 
to divide Kuroki from the other armies and over- 
whelm him, even if they had not had the discour- 
agement of defeat; the Japanese were too much 
exhausted to pursue. 

A quiet month elapsed. Both sides were 
strengthening themselves for new efforts. Accord- 
ing to the Japanese system the gaps in the line 
left by battles were filled up by relays from home, 
and at this time the term of active service was ex- 
tended for five years, so that the available army 
comprised 600,000 men. At the same time Kuro- 
patkin was receiving 3000 recruits daily over the 
railroad, and arrangements for the organization of a 
second army were begun in Russia. 

Two divisions of the Russians were on the Hun; 
four at Mukden; the rest of Kuropatkin's army 
was at the Tie-ling. All the Japanese had crossed 
the Tai-tse, and were drawn up facing the Hun, 
with a front of about ninety-three miles. They had 
perhaps 150,000 men. On October 2d Kuropatkin 
either felt strong enough to, or was commanded to, 



THE S TI< UGGLE WI TH R US SI A . 439 

advance to the rescue of Port Arthur. He encoun- 
tered the Japanese on October 9th, and there 
followed eight days of desperate fighting. The 
first attack of the Russians caused the Japanese to 
withdraw their outposts, but the centre resisted 
stoutly. On the loth the left and centre were 
attacked, and thenceforth counter-assaults upon 
important situations occurred every day and night. 
But the Japanese in the main held their positions, 
and on the nth began a general advance, which 
developed more strongly on the 12th, and on the 
13th broke the right and centre of the Russians, 
and on the 14th had driven them across the Hun. 
Desultory fighting still continued, and on the night 
of the f/th the Japanese lost sixteen guns. But 
the battle wore out with the Japanese lines ad- 
vanced fifteen miles toward Mukden. In these 
engagements the Russian losses are reckoned at 
60,000 men, and the Japanese at 16,000. The win- 
ter was coming on and both armies entrenched 
themselves for another period of preparation, and 
meanwhile awaited the result of the long and closely- 
pressed siege of Port Arthur. 

General Nogi had assumed command of the third 
Japanese army, destined to reduce this formidable 
fortress. Advantage had been taken by the Rus- 
sian engineers of every natural means of defence. 
At the east were the Ehrlung Shan, Bandusan, and 
Kikwan forts, in the first line, dominated by Pine 
Tree Hill and Inner Kikwan; and to the west of 
the railway there were Antzu Shan, Itzu Shan, and 



440 THE S TOR Y OF J A PA N, 

203 Metre Hill; besides the Golden Hill fort on 
the seaboard, which was equipped with heavy guns 
from the fleet, and other forts. The number and 
strength of forts, redoubts, and trenches had been 
greatly augmented since the Chinese War. The 
approaches were defended by trenches on the sides 
of the hills, banked up so as to be invisible at 
artillery range, and were, moreover, guarded with 
rnines and with entanglements of barbed wire, 
charged with a mortal current of electricity. Gen- 
eral Stossel had a garrison of upwards of 30,000 
men. 

The capture of such a fortress seemed impossible. 
It was not reduced until January ist, and the siege 
is said to have cost more than 50,000 in killed 
and wounded. Nogi, who had. moved south from 
Kerr Bay, drove in the Russian outposts, with 
some difficulty, and by the beginning of August 
was within six miles of the town. August i6th, 
he sent to General Stossel a summons to surrender 
which was refused, and on the 19th he began a 
general bombardment and attack, which lasted until 
August 26th, and, it is said, cost the Japanese 
15.000 men. The assaults were pushed day and 
night. The night attacks were illuminated by star- 
bombs, by the eight or nine searchlights of the 
Russians, and by the continuous flashes of ex- 
ploding shells. On the 22d the Japanese carried 
the Banu Shan redoubts, and these, in spite of all 
the Russian attacks, they held. 

174 Metre Hill, to the west of the railroad, fell 



THE STRVfJGLE WITH RUSSIA, 44 1 

into the hands of the Japanese on August 19th, and, 
although this was not in itself very important, pos- 
session of it was the preliminary step to the assault 
of the western hills, particularly 203 Metre Hill, 
which commanded the harbor. In the harbor 
were the vessels which had escaped from the battle 
of August loth. A powerful fleet was in prepara- 
tion in Russia to sail to the aid of Port Arthur; and 
so longf as the vessels in the harbor remained fit 
for service, ready to fall upon the Japanese com- 
munications, if not opposed. Admiral Togo could 
not safely make preparations to meet this new 
enemy. It was obviously necessary to destroy 
the vessels in the port as soon as might be. 

From the works at Osaka had come a battery of 
eleven-inch howitzers, and their 500-pound shells 
had already made some impression on the Russian 
forts. After one or two general assaults on 203 
Metre Hill, which were repulsed with great loss, the 
Japanese resorted to their sappers, and drove par- 
allels within a hundred and fifty feet of the Russian 
works. On the 27th of November the entire Japa- 
nese artillery fire was concentrated upon the hill, 
and at night the Japanese rushed out of their 
trenches and carried the summit. The Russians, 
however, re-formed and recaptured it. The next 
morning the Japanese charged again, unsuccess- 
fully, and once more at four in the afternoon, when 
they won the crest, which, however, shrapnel from 
the higher summits soon compelled them to aban- 
don. Day and night, until December 5th, the 



442 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

assaults continued. In the afternoon of that day, 
at last, the Japanese drove the defenders from the 
ruins of their trenches, and this time created a 
diversion by feinting a movement upon the eastern 
forts. The Russians hurried to meet this new 
threat, and before they could return the Japanese 
had fortified themselves too strongly to be dis- 
lodged. This hill was not used for batteries, how- 
ever, but as an observation point for directing the 
fire of the eleven-inch guns, which were brought to 
its rear. From here they could discharge a plung- 
ing fire upon the harbor, and had soon disabled all 
of the larger Russian vessels except the Sevastopol, 
which anchored out of range and was presently tor- 
pedoed. The eleven-inch shells ruined the town; 
it is said that every third house was struck. 

Meanwhile, on the east the Japanese had dug 
their parallels up the hills often so close to the Rus- 
sian works that the voices of each party were au- 
dible in the trenches of the other. During the entire 
autumn of 1904 fighting in these trenches was a 
daily event, and often, particularly at night, it was 
hand-to-hand fighting. Parties of Russians, armed 
with grenades, made nightly sorties *upon the 
trenches, and sometimes drove the defenders out of 
their works. The Japanese, too, used grenades, and, 
in their assaults, gun-cotton, fired from hand-mor- 
tars made of bamboo. By December i8th they 
had tunnelled under the north fort of Ehrlung- 
shan, and had laid seven mines, with two tons of 
dynamite. The explosion, a complete surprise to 



THE STRUGGLE WITH RUSSIA. 443 

the defenders, was terrific. A Japanese force which 
had pushed too close, in order to be ready to rush 
into the fort, was severely damaged by the debris; 
but a second force took its place, and finally entered 
the walls. On the 31st of December, by a similar 
mine, the Japanese blew up the parapet of the 
Sungshushan fort, and took possession of the works. 

The life and soul of the defenders, General Kon- 
drachenko, had been killed on December i6th by an 
exploding eleven-inch shell. General Stossel had 
long seen the futility of the defence. Ammunition 
for his heavy guns had run short, and the larger part 
of his garrison was in the hospital. On January ist 
he proposed to surrender, and on January 4th de- 
livered over the fortress. The ofilicers were per- 
mitted to retain their sidearms, and, if they chose, to 
return to their own country on parole. Among the 
prisoners were four admirals, eight generals, and a 
large number of minor officers; the total number of 
officers and men surrendered was 32,286. Five hun- 
dred and forty-six guns, with a quantity of ammu- 
nition, and other military supplies, and thirty-nine 
vessels of various character, mainly damaged, fell 
into the hands of the victors. 

On the 25th of January, Kuropatkin's right wing, 
commanded by General Gripenberg, crossed the Hun 
and in a flanking movement rolled up the left wing 
of the Japanese and took the villages of Chen-chieh- 
pu and Hei-kan-tai. On the next day Oyama sent 
up reinforcements to make an assault on the latter 
town, but in the meantime the Russians had brought 



444 "^^^ ^ ^0^ ^ ^^ J^ P^ ^' 

up thirty guns, and every attack of the Japanese 
failed. Both sides were heavily reinforced, and on 
the 28th, by a night attack, the Japanese possessed 
themselves of the place. General Kuropatkin or- 
dered a retreat. The Russian losses in this fight 
are estimated at 10,000, and the Japanese, at 7000. 
General Gripenberg, believing that if he had been 
properly supported the Russians might have gained 
a victory, resigned his command and returned to 
Russia. After this battle the opposing forces again 
assembled themselves for what proved to be the 
final land battle of the war. It is estimated that 
the forces of the Russians had increased to 300,000 
men, and the Japanese had brought over a new 
army under General Kawimura, which took its place 
on the extreme right wing beyond Kuroki. On the 
left wing the veterans of Port Arthur had joined the 
Manchurian army, and it was their appearance 
which finally turned the Russian advance into a 
rout. General Kuropatkin began the advance by a 
cavalry raid on the left flank, meaning to cut off the 
communications with Liao-yang, while General Lin- 
evitch was to engage the centre and General Ren- 
nenkampf was to turn their left. The struggle was 
severe in the centre and at one time there was a 
question whether General Linevitch would not break 
through, but General Nogi gradually pushed back 
the Russian attack, and by the second of March 
was in a flanking position on the enemy's right. 
On the Japanese right, also, Kawimura and Kuroki 
were beginning to drive back the Russian attack. 



THE STRUGGLE WITH RUSSIA, 445 

The Japanese centre had resisted the Russian 
assaults, and the entire Russian line was changed 
to confront Nogi, who was closing in upon it. 
Until March 8th the colossal struggle along a hun- 
dred miles of front was waged furiously. But on 
that day Kawimura succeeded in turning the Rus- 
sian left, and Oku and Nodzu in driving back the 
centre, and on the 9th the Russian army was in 
confused retreat. Mukden was in Japanese hands 
on the loth, and the entire Russian force, except 
the centre under General Linevitch, became a disor- 
ganized body of fugitives driven back upon Harbin. 
In this battle the losses of the Japanese are esti- 
mated at from 60,000 to 100,000; those of the Rus- 
sians at 150,000, including 40,000 prisoners. The 
spoils of the victory were some 60 guns, 200,000 
shells, 25,000,000 rounds of small-arms ammunition, 
23 Chinese carts full of maps, and large amounts of 
rations and fuel. The Russian army, however, was 
defeated, not annihilated. General Kuropatkin was 
superseded in his command by General Linevitch, 
and volunteered to take a subordinate position. 
The two armies now paused again to prepare for a 
new conflict. 

In the meantime a powerful fleet of twenty-nine 
fighting ships had left Russia, in October, 1904, to 
relieve Port Arthur and intercept Japanese com- 
munications. The commander was Admiral Rod- 
jestvensky. On the Doggerbank in the North Sea 
a portion of this fleet came across an English fishing 
fleet and being in somewhat hysterical dread of 



44^ THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

Japanese torpedo-boats, fired and sank two British 
vessels. This episode might have brought about 
war between England and Russia but for the cool- 
ness of the British Government, which referred the 
matter to a board of arbitration. The board exon- 
erated the Admiral from any fault in the matter, 
but prescribed heavy damages which the Russians 
paid. The fleet voyaged to the East, partly 
through the Suez Canal, partly around the Cape of 
Good Hope. The two divisions joined at Annam. 
The Russian ships had taken provisions freely and 
had spent more than the legal time at several 
French ports, and the Japanese protested at what 
they asserted was a violation of the neutrality laws 
on the part of France. But these protests were 
not pressed in view of the result of the battle which 
took place in the Japan Sea. 

On May 14th the Russian fleet left neutral waters, 
presumably directing its course toward Vladivos- 
tok. Admiral Togo had been watching the course 
of the enemy. In a secluded harbor, Chien-hai 
Bay in Korea, in telegraphic communication with 
Japan, he had been preparing his fleet, which was 
in numbers superior to the Russian fleet, and, 
although somewhat inferior in heavy guns, had a 
considerable advantage in the eight-inch and six- 
inch batteries. His scouts, by wireless telegraphy, 
kept him perfectly informed of the movements of 
the Russians, and in the morning of May 27th he 
knew that the Russian fleet was to pass through the 
Korean Straits in two columns, with the strength 



THE STRUGGLE WITH RUSSIA, 447 

of the fleet, four battle-ships, at the head of the right 
column. He set forth with the plan of meeting the 
enemy about two o'clock somewhat north of Okino 
Shima, in the east channel, and, as was usual among 
the Japanese throughout the war, he carried out 
his plans on schedule time. He had organized a 
battle-ship squadron, including his armored cruis- 
ers, to meet the Russian battle-ships; his other 
cruisers he sent down the long line of Russian ships 
which disappeared beyond the horizon. It was a 
foggy day Vv^ith a heavy sea, and the Japanese ap- 
proached the Russians from the westward, somewhat 
obscured by what sunlight there was. At first 
Togo made as if to pass the head of the Russian 
column to the westward, but about two o'clock he 
turned to the eastward and took an oblique course 
across the Russian front with his battle-ship squad- 
ron. The Russians began to fire at a distance of 
about six miles; the Japanese reserved their fire 
until within a distance of about two miles, and con- 
centrated their entire force on the Oslyabya, which 
led the left column and which presently caught fire. 
The flagship Kiiiaz Siivaroff, which led the right 
column, and the Imperator Alexander III soon fell 
out of line in distress. The Borodiiio took the place 
of the flagship at the head of the line, but by this 
time the Russian course had been forced from the 
northeast around to the southeast. The Russian 
line, now formed in single file, tried to turn the 
Japanese rear, and escape to the north ; but this 
manoeuvre the Japanese met by facing square about. 



448 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

SO as to cross the Russian front, and thrust it south- 
ward and eastward in confusion. Meanwhile Ad- 
miral Uriu with the cruiser squadron had sailed 
southward and had encompassed the rear of the 
enemy, taking advantage of superior speed, and 
passing to and fro, appearing now on the right and 
now on the left of the Russian line. The Japanese 
vessels were not entirely free from injury. The 
Asama of Togo's squadron had been temporarily 
disabled, and the Nanhva and Kasagi of Uriu's 
fleet were not in fighting condition, but in the main 
their formation held; whereas by five o'clock the 
Russian fleet was scattered into small groups of 
ships mainly striving to escape. There was no 
organization. The Admiral had been wounded early 
in the battle; his fleet was dispersed in groups and 
each group was hunted down by the assailants. 
The most powerful Russian battle-ships, the Osly- 
abya, the Impcrator Alexander III, and the Borodino 
had been sunk. At night, when the sea had be- 
come calmer, the Japanese torpedo-boats assailed 
the scattered groups. The Russians fought bravely, 
sinking three torpedo-boats, but the Kniaz Potem- 
kin, the Sissoi Veliky^ the Navarini, and three 
armored cruisers wefe torpedoed. On the 28th 
the battle-ship and armored cruiser squadron came 
upon a section of the enemy under Admiral Nebo- 
gatoff, including the Orel 2.^6. the Imp er at or Nicolas 
/, and the Admiral at once surrendered. In the 
afternoon two Japanese destroyers captured two 
Russian destroyers, one of which, the Biedovi^ 



THE S TR UGGL E WITH R US SI A . 449 

bore Admiral Rodjestvensky, wounded. Of the 
Russian fleet, six battle-ships had been sunk and 
two captured. Four cruisers had been sunk, one 
escaped, only to be destroyed on the rocks beyond 
Vladivostok. One coast defence vessel had been 
sunk and two captured, and five destroyers had been 
sunk, and one captured. Three cruisers escaped 
to Manila, where they were disarmed; one reached 
Vladivostok. Another vessel, the Lenay crossed the 
Pacific, and put into San Francisco harbor, where 
she was detained. One destroyer reached Shanghai, 
and two others found refuge at Vladivostok. Of 
the 12,767 men in the Russian crews, almost 4000 
had been killed or drowned, more than 7000 were 
prisorrers. The Japanese loss was 115 killed and 
450 wounded. The victory was gained partly by 
superior marksmanship on the part of the Japanese, 
partly by greater rapidity of fire, and partly by 
superior mobility. 

This victory gave to the Japanese complete com- 
mand of the sea, with ample opportunity not only 
to send supplies to the army in Manchuria, but also 
to begin operations against Vladivostok and to 
occupy the island of Sakhalin, in July, with little 
opposition. Preparations for new operations were 
pushed with energy; and on the Russian side, the 
Tsar proclaimed his determination to send a new 
army to General Linevitch. 

But the uselessness of further struggle had been 
long apparent to the rest of the world, as well as 
to the Russian and Japanese statesmen. Russian 



450 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

armies had not shown the sh'ghtest promise of ability 
to turn back the Japanese, and on the other hand, 
evidently it would be difficult, perhaps impossible, 
for the bearers of the Sunrise Flag to carry their 
standard into Russia. In this situation, probably 
after consultation with the European Powers, Presi- 
dent Roosevelt suggested to both governments 
the desirability of negotiations, between plenipoten- 
tiaries of the contesting nations, to ascertain whether 
a treaty of peace might not be mutually acceptable. 
The suggestion was accepted, and after some delib- 
eration Washington was chosen as the meeting- 
place; but in summer Washington is hot, so the 
peace conference met near Portsmouth, New Hamp- 
shire, in the General Equipment Building of the 
Navy Yard. The Tsar sent Count Sergius Witte, 
and the Ambassador to Washington, Baron Rom^an 
Romanovitch Rosen; the Japanese, Baron Jutaro 
Komura and the Minister to Washington, Mr. Ko- 
goro Takahira. The negotiations began August 5th, 
and were conducted in secret. But from day to day 
the large corps of newspaper correspondents ascer- 
tained the proceedings, and the accuracy of their 
information, in general, is confirmed by both par- 
ties. Baron Komura proposed a number of condi- 
tions, which were refused in bulk by the Russian 
commissioners, whereupon the Japanese proposed 
consideration of each condition in detail. 

To the greater number of the demands of Japan 
the Russians acceded, with little debate. The con- 
tested paragraphs, as they came up for discussion. 



THE STRUGGLE WITH RUSSIA, 45 1 

were deferred until the last. The main points of 
difference were the question of an indemnity of 
perhaps $600,000,000, to be paid by Russia, and the 
cession of the island of Sakhalin to Japan. Before 
these points had been decided, Mr. Sato, the first 
secretary of the commission, had announced to the 
correspondents that he expected a favorable issue 
of the conference. But during the discussion of 
them there ensued a period of gloomo Neither side 
seemed disposed to relinquish its standpoint. But 
after several conferences at Washington between 
the President and Baron Rosen and Baron Kaneko, 
a special envoy from Japan, the Russians agreed to 
cede half of Sakhalin, and the Japanese agreed 
to forego the cession of the other half, and the in- 
demnity. This concession came to pass on August 
26th, and. a treaty was forthwith drawn up and sent 
to the Mikado and the Tsar for ratification. As 
published, October i6th, the agreement consists of 
fifteen articles. Russia acknowledged Japan's 
param3unt interest in Korea; transferred the lease 
of Port Arthur, Ta-lien, and the adjacent territory, 
and the railway connecting Port Arthur with Chang- 
chung-fu and Kuan-chang-tsu, as well as the coal 
mines in the neighborhood, and the southern part 
of Sakhalin, below the 50th parallel, with the pro- 
viso that no military measures should be taken by 
the Japanese which might impede navigation in the 
straits of La Perouse and Tartary. The contract- 
ing Powers mutually agreed to evacuate Manchu- 
ria — excepting the Liao-tung Peninsula — within 



452 THE STORY OFJAPAN, 

eighteen months, and to restore the control thereof 
to China; not to obstruct any commercial measures, 
common to all countries, which China might take 
in this region; and to develop their railways for 
commercial purposes only, except in the Liao-tung 
Peninsula. Russia was to arrange with Japan for 
the granting to Japanese fishermen of rights to pur- 
sue their trade in the Japan, Okhotsk, and Bering 
seas, and the Japanese agreed to respect the rights 
of Russian subjects in the ceded territory. Finally, 
both Powers were to make estimates of the cost of 
taking care of prisoners, and Prussia agreed to pay 
to Japan the difference caused by the larger number 
of Russian prisoners who fell into Japanese hands. 

In both Japan and Russia this treaty was badly 
received. A large party in Russia desired to con- 
tinue the war, feeling that, with an available army of 
perhaps 600,000 men opposed to the Japanese, Rus- 
sia was not yet defeated. The Japanese people had 
hoped for aii indemnity and the whole of Sakhalin, 
and in Tokyo there were serious riots. Martial law 
had to be proclaimed, and stones were thrown at 
Marquis Ito, who was held accountable for the con- 
cessions to Russian demands. But rebellion, which 
threatened to be revolution, in Russia at once 
threw the Japanese question into the shade. And 
in Japan the agitation calmed as the people saw 
how much more they had gained than they had de- 
manded at the beginning of the war. 

The result of the struggle put Japan in the position 
of a first-class Power — the dominant Power, indeed, 



THE S TR UGGLE WI TH R US SI A . 453 

in Eastern affairs. In 1906 she raised her import- 
ant legations to embassies. Her position had been 
strengthened by a treaty of alliance concluded with 
England, August 12th, 1906, for the maintenance of 
peace in East Asia and in India, the preservation of 
the common rights of all nations in China, including 
free commercial rights, and the preservation of the 
territorial rights of the contracting Powers in East 
Asia and India. In the case of an unprovoked 
attack upon one of the contracting Powers in these 
regions, the other was to come to its assistance. 
The predominance of England in India was expressly 
recognized in this agreement, and also the predom- 
inance of Japan in Korea. 

The war over, Japan at once began to establish a 
protectorate in Korea. The population of the Mi- 
kado's Empire has increased with great rapidity. 
In 1906 it was about 51,000,000, and was beginning 
to press hard upon the land. It needed an outlet. 
Korea is a region that promises rich rewards to 
those who shall develop its resources, and Japa- 
nese colonists have been sent thither in great num- 
bers. The Marquis Ito concluded a treaty with the 
king, in November, 1905, whereby all diplomatic 
business was transferred to Japan. Ito himself was 
sent to Seoul as Resident General. The Min 
family protested to the Powers against this, assert- 
ing that the treaty was signed practically under 
compulsion ; nevertheless, the Korean representa- 
tives at the capitals of Europe and America were 
withdrawn, and Korean foreign affairs were placed 
in the hands of the Japanese. 



Resources and Ideals 

of 

Modern Japan 

By 

Baron Kentaro Kaneko, LL, D, 



455 



I 



THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR AND THE RESOURCES 
OF JAPAN. 

In the early years of the nineteenth century, 
England fought against Napoleonic militarism in de- 
fence of European civilization; and at the dawn of 
the twentieth century, it became necessary for the 
little island empire of Japan to take up arms in 
defence of Ang]o-Americ;an civilization in the Far 
East. Just as truly as the great cause of civilization 
was at stake upon the battle-fields of Europe, so the 
future of this same civilization, in its Asiatic devel- 
opment, hung upon the destiny of Japan. 

In order to enumerate the facts intelligibly enough 
for a legitimate inference as to the results of this last 
conflict, we must make a rapid survey of the history 
of the Russian occupation of Manchuria, for it was 
the Manchurian question which precipitated the 
Russo-Japanese War. 

Prior to the time of the Chino-Japanese War of 
1894-95, foreign Powers, becoming aware of the 
enormous resources and immense possibilities of 
central China, had vainly sought to gain for foreign 
trade a free access to that portion of the Celestial 

457 



458 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

Empire. But neither European diplomacy nor 
pluck of American commercialism could avail to 
open that close-barred door. The Chinese are too 
obstinate to be persuaded and not docile enough to 
be taught. But when Japan had China at her 
mercy, in 1895, one of her principal demands was 
that four ports, Sou-Chow, Kan-Chow, Sha-Shi, 
and Chang-King, should be thrown open for the 
trade of the world. 

When the war ended, the Liao Tung Peninsula 
was given to Japan by the treaty of Shimonoseki. 
But no sooner had this cession been made than 
Russia, with the support of France and Germany, 
declared that any holding of Manchurian territory by 
Japan would constitute a menace to the peace of 
Asia. In order to avert, this supposed menace, 
Japa'n consented to restore the peninsula to China, 
never for a moment thinking that Russia would 
ultimately come into possession of it. 

But scarcely a year had passed when, in 1896, 
Russia made a secret agreement with China by 
which she obtained the right to construct a railway 
through the northern part of Manchuria, for the 
purpose of giving her a shorter access to the port of 
Vladivostok, and this railway was afterwards ex- 
tended through the southern part of the peninsula. 

Nor was this all. In the following year, 1 897, Rus- 
sia obtained permission from China to winter her 
fleet at Port Arthur, and in 1898, Port Arthur and 
also Dalny were formally leased to Russia. Then 
followed the rapid fortifying of these places and 
other important strategic positions in the province; 



THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR. 459 

and finally Russia arrogated to herself the right to 
ignore completely Chinese sovereignty in Man- 
churia, and also existing treaty rights of Japan and 
other Powers in regard to that region of the Celes- 
tial Empire. Such occupation of Manchuria by 
Russia was not only destructive of the principle of 
equity in regard to commercial opportunities, and 
an impairment of the territorial integrity of China, 
but it was also a flat contradiction of the principle 
of the maintenance of permanent peace in Asia, for 
which principle alone Japan had given up her spoils 
of victory. 

Moreover, — and this was of still greater moment 
to Japan, — Russia, thus situated on the flank of 
Korea, would be a constant menace to the separate 
existence of that empire, and in any event would 
exercise there a predominant influence. For years, 
Russia had been seeking to encroach upon Korea. 
After having obtained, some years ago, the conces- 
sion of an enormous forest belt in the upper range of 
the Yalu River, she obtained, in 1902, from the Kor- 
ean Government the right to use Yongampo, near the 
mouth of the river, as a lumber depot in which to 
receive her timber as it came down the stream. 

Japan soon had reason to suspect that Russia had 
converted the place into a fortification, an idea not 
dispelled when a member of the Japanese Legation 
at Seoul, who had been sent to investigate the mat- 
ter, was refused permission to land. 

The situation of affairs in Manchuria was also a 
cause of great anxiety. The continued presence of 
a large Russian army in this province was in itself a 



460 THE STORY OF JAPAX, 

violation of the agreement made by all the Powers 
after the Boxer outbreak in China. It had then 
been agreed that all troops sent into the Chinese 
Empire for the defence of the legations, and to aid 
in restoring order, should be withdrawn at the earli- 
est possible moment, Russia alone being allowed a 
longer delay in consequence of her interests in 
Manchuria, which might be endangered by ill-sub- 
dued Boxers or general brigandage. A "railway 
police" was allowed her for a time, but the 8th of 
October, 1903, was fixed as the limit of her military 
occupation of the province. 

As early as April of that year it became perfectly 
evident that, instead of fulfilling this engagement to 
withdraw her troops, Russia was resolved to retain 
her position there, and strengthen it in every way, 
pouring troops into Manchuria until she occupied 
the whole province, and finally announcing her in- 
tention to hold it. 

In view, therefore, of the situation in Manchuria 
and Korea, the Japanese Government on the 28th 
of July opened negotiations with the Russian Gov- 
ernment *'in a spirit of conciliation and frankness, 
with a view to the conclusion of an understanding 
to compose questions which are the cause of interest 
and natural anxiety." 

The Japanese Government drew up proposals as 
the basis of these negotiations, and these proposals 
were submitted to Count Lamsdorff on August 12, 
1903, it being clearly stated therein that the negotia- 
tions were to settle the matter relating to Manchuria 
and Korea. 



THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR. 461 

After full five months' delay, on December ii, 
1903, the Russian counter-proposals were received 
by the Japanese Government, and it was a surprise 
to the Japanese to find from these that Russia had 
stricken out Manchuria from her consideration and 
had confined herself entirely to Korea. Japan 
thereupon offered counter-proposals, restoring the 
omitted clauses bearing on Manchuria. Another 
delay ensued, and repeated requests for an early 
answer were made by the Japanese Government, 
but without avail. 

Meanwhile, what was Russia doing? 

She was hurrying her warships to the Asiatic 
station, sending troops and military supplies into 
Manchuria, and, without any disguise whatever, 
preparing for war. 

Let me cite from a report on "Russian 
Preparations." 

"Her warlike preparations in the Far East have 
been going ahead since April, 1903, when she failed 
to carry out her treaty engagements. During that 
time the increase made in her naval strength in the 
Far East was as follows: Three battle-ships, ton- 
nage 38,488; one armored cruiser, tonnage 7727; 
five cruisers, tonnage 26,417; seven destroyers, 
tonnage 2450 ; one gunboat, tonnage 1344; two 
vessels for laying mines, tonnage 6000. Total 
number of vessels nineteen, with a total tonnage of 
82,426. In addition to these vessels, the Russian 
Government sent torpedo-boat destroyers in sections 
by rail to Port Arthur, where the work of putting 
them together has been hastened, and seven of 



462 THE STORY OF JAPANS. 

them have already been completed. Furthermore, 
two vessels of the volunteer fleet were armed at 
Vladivostok and hoisted the Russian naval ensign, 

"During the same period the increase of Russia's 
land forces in the Far East has been equally 
marked. Since the 29th of June, 1903, when under 
the pretext of trial transportation on the Siberian 
Railway the Russian Government sent to China two 
infantry brigades, two artillery battalions, and a 
large force of cavalry, troops have been con- 
stantly sent by military train from Russia to the 
Far East, until the Russian forces were over forty 
thousand. At the same time, plans were being 
made for sending, if necessary, over two hundred 
thousand more men. 

"During the same period there has been the 
greatest activity possible at Port Arthur and Vladi- 
vostok, and the work has been carried on day and 
night to strengthen the fortifications of those naval 
ports, while forts have been built at Liao Yang, 
Nunchun, and other strategic points, and large 
quantities of arms and ammunition have been sent 
to the Far East by the Siberian Railway and the 
vessels of the volunteer fleet. In the middle of 
October, 1903, a train of fourteen cars was hur- 
riedly sent from Russia laden with the equipment 
of a field hospital. 

"During the latter part of January and up to the 
beginning of February, 1904, Russian military ac- 
tivity was still further intensified. On January 21st, 
a formal order to prepare for war was given by Ad- 
4niral Alexieff to the forces that were stationed in 



THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR. 463 

the vicinity of the Yalu. On February ist, the mili- 
tary commandant at Vladivostok, under orders of 
his government, requested the Japanese commercial 
agent at that port to notify his nation that a state of 
siege might be proclaimed at any moment, and to 
make immediate preparations to withdraw to Hab- 
rovsk. About the same date, all of the warships at 
Port Arthur, except a battle-ship under repairs, 
made a naval demonstration by leaving port, while 
troops were advanced in large numbers from Liao 
Yang toward the Yalu." 

Being thus informed that all hope of peaceful 
result from their negotiations with Russia was gone, 
and that there was no other course to be taken, the 
Japanese Government, on February 5, 1904, sent 
the following telegram to the Russian Government: 

"In the presence of delays which remain largely 
unexplained and naval and military activities which 
it is difficult to reconcile with entirely pacific aims, 
the Imperial Government have exercised in the de- 
pending negotiations a degree of forbearance which 
they believe affords abundant proof of their loyal 
desire to remove from their relations with the Im- 
perial Russian Government every cause for future 
misunderstanding. But finding in their efforts no 
prospect of securing from the Imperial Russian 
Government an adhesion to either Japan's moderate 
and unselfish proposals, or to any other proposals 
likely to establish a firm and enduring peace in the 
extreme East, the Imperial Government have no 
other alternative than to terminate the present 
futile negotiations. 



464 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

**In adopting that course the Imperial Govern- 
ment reserve to themselves the right to take such 
independent action as they may deem best to consolidate 
and defend their menaced position, as well as to protect 
their established rights and legitimate interests. 

"The Imperial Government of Japan, having ex- 
hausted without effect every means of conciliation 
with a viev/to the removal from their relations with 
the Imperial Russian Government of every cause 
for future complications, and finding that their just 
representations and moderate and unselfish propos- 
als in the interest of a firm and lasting peace in the 
extreme East are not receiving the consideration 
which is their due, have resolved to sever their diplo- 
matic relations with the Imperial Russian Government ^ 
which for the reason named have ceased to possess any 
value. 

This brings us to the outbreak of hostilities. 
Suitably to the declaration made in Japan's final 
message to the Russian Government, she began to 
move troops to Korea, and Japanese transports, 
conveyed by Japanese torpedo-boats and war-ves- 
sels, reached the Bay of Chemulpo on February 8th. 

On their arrival, this flotilla met the Russian war- 
vessel Korietz. She made hostile demonstrations, 
2ir\d fired the first shot of the war at one of the tor- 
pedo-boats, which thereupon returned the fire. 
On the following day, Rear-Admiral Uriu sent a 
letter to the captain of the Variag, challenging him 
to combat outside the harbor; at the same time 
he addressed individual communications to the 
commanders of war-vessels of the United States, 



THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR. 465 

England, Italy and France, then in Chemulpo, 
requesting them, in case the Variag and Korietz did 
not leave the harbor before noon, to change their 
anchorage. About eleven o'clock the same morn- 
ing, the two Russian war-vessels steamed from the 
harbor into the open sea and there began the first 
naval battle between Russia and Japan. 

The world in general has grown so accustomed to 
hear it said that Russia's resources in men, money, 
and natural wealth are unlimited, and Japan's com- 
paratively small, that it is doubly interesting to note 
the fact that throughout the war Japan has never at 
any time been brought into contact with an antag- 
onist who has proved to be formidable or dangerous 
to her. The tactics pursued have won for the Jap- 
anese the admiration of expert military opinion 
everywhere; among Western critics especially, the 
quality and efficacy of Japanese strategy have be- 
come axiomatic. 

War finances are of a different character froni 
those dealt with by the ordinary budget, and there- 
fore the financial statement of the Japanese Govern- 
ment in connection with the war expenditures may 
be the most illuminating manner of presenting in- 
formation on the resources of Japan: 

"When the negotiations between Japan and 
Russia took such a turn as almost to cut off every 
hope of peace being maintained, it became impera- 
tively necessary to make such prompt military 
preparations as would put Japan in a state of readi- 
ness for all eventualities, as well as, with equal 
expedition, to provide the requisite financial means. 

30 



THE STORY OF JAPAN 

In accordance, therefore, with Article LXX. of the 
Japanese Constitution, the Imperial Urgency Ordi- 
nance was promulgated on December 28, 1903, as a 
special financial measure whereby authority was 
given for diverting the funds kept under special 
account, issuing exchequer bonds, and making 
temporary loans to meet expenditures incurred for 
military preparations. The total amount of expen- 
ditures which were sanctioned, in accordance with 
the above-mentioned imperial ordinance, was, up 
to the end of March, 1904, about $78,000,000. It 
is proposed to raise this sum by issuing exchequer 
bonds for $50,000,000, diverting ^12,500,000 of the 
funds kept under special account, and making tem- 
porary loans for the balance. The loan of $50,000,- 
000 has already been floated with great success, the 
total amount subscribed by the Japanese people 
reaching four and one-half times the sum called for 
— that is, $225,000,000. As, moreover, the bonds 
were allotted chiefly among the lower and middle 
classes, it is evident that, in the event of another 
loan being raised at home, ample money will be 
forthcoming to provide for it. But the aforesaid 
urgency measure was no more than an expedient 
devised to meet an emergency. Peace having been 
broken in February, 1904, the Diet was convened in 
March and gave its consent to the urgency financial 
measure of December, 1903. It approved various 
measures relating to war finance; it passed the 
budget for extraordinary war expenditures, and for 
the expense involved in diplomatic and other 
State affairs connected with the war. These ex- 



THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR. 467 

penses are to be met by the imposition of extraor- 
dinary special taxes, the provision including in- 
creased rates of stamp duty, the replacing of the 
leaf tobacco monopoly (which was previously in 
force) by the monopoly on tobacco manufacture, 
which the government has long had in contemplation, 
the appropriation of funds under special accounts; 
public loans, exchequer bonds, and temporary 
loans. In order, at the same time, to prevent 
serious economic changes arising from the inflation 
of the currency by expediting the return of moneys 
paid for war purposes, and to encourage thrift 
among the people, regulations were made for the 
issue of saving-loan-bonds by the Hypothec Bank." 
In this extraordinary war budget both revenue 
and expenditure amount to $190,000,000. The 
sources of revenue are as follows: 

1. Increased receipts expected from the imposi- 
tion of extraordinary special taxes, and from the 
establishment of the tobacco-manufacture mon- 
opoly, $31,000,000. 

2. The amount set apart out of the surplus of 
$24,000,000; obtained by further retrenchments of 
the budget to be actually carried out in the present 
fiscal year (1905); also through some funds having 
become unnecessary for ordinary naval and military 
expenditure, an additional $4,000,000. 

3. Loans from funds under special accounts, 
$15,000,000. 

4. Funds to be obtained by means of public 
loans, exchequer bonds, and temporary loans, 
$140,000,000. 



468 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

Besides this, there are the expenditures needed 
for diplomatic and other matters connected with 
national affairs, as they may be defrayed from time 
to time according to the requirements of the devel- 
oping situation. The total reserve fund for the 
purpose has, therefore, been put at $20,000,000, to 
vv^hich it has been decided to set apart the balance 
of the surplus of $24,000,000 remaining after de- 
ducting the $4,000,000 which is to be appropriated 
for war expenditures. 

As to the total amount of war expenditure, that 
obviously depends on the number of soldiers and 
sailors engaged; on the area of the field of opera- 
tions, as well as on its nearness or distance from the 
home country; on the number of battles, and on 
the length of the war in point of time. Yet, judg- 
ing from experience since the Crimean War, in the 
Austro-Italian War, the war in which Denmark 
was engaged, the Franco-German War, the Russo- 
Turkish War, and the Transvaal War, an approx- 
imate estimate may be given. 

The average monthly expenditure in those wars, 
for an army of 100,000 men, ranged from a mini- 
mum of $12,000,000, to a maximum of $25,000,000, 
excepting that of the Austro-Prussian War expenses. 
In the Japanese war against China, in the year 1894- 
95, the Japanese spent, every month, on the aver- 
age, the sum of $5,500,000. Since then, the price 
of goods has risen both in Japan and in Manchuria. 
The armies employed in the present campaign are 
much larger than those sent against the Chinese. 
What is more, being unable to utilize for the present 



THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR, 469 

war the organization and plan of operations which 
suited well enough for the campaign of 1894-95, 
completely new arrangements had to be made for 
the operations against the Russians. Taking, then, 
experience in Europe since the Crimean War, and 
Japanese experience in the war against China, it 
may be said that were Japan to send 200,000 soldiers 
to Manchuria at the present time (May, 1905), their 
support for each month, would cost $12,500,000. 
The naval operations of the war must also be kept 
in mind. Expenditure for this purpose will amount, 
per month, to $3,000,000. 

It thus appears that the war expenditure for the 
year* beginning in April and ending in March will 
amount to $186,000,000; and as the government's 
estimate of the war expenditure for the fiscal year 
is $190,000,000, we shall have — this estimate being 
correct — a surplus of $4,000,00©. 

But it is said that, owing to the government hav- 
ing issued a large amount in national loans, the 
people of Japan are now under heavy financial bur- 
dens. It is argued that if the Japanese Government 
continues to create national debts, either in the 
home or in the foreign market, she will ultimately 
find herself in a position where it will be impossible 
for her to pay even the interest on the amounts of 
her indebtedness. With no other resources at her 
disposal, and with no mortgages to pledge her 
security on foreign loans, Japan, it is held, will in 
a very short time find her credit gone, not only in 
the foreign but also in the home market. 

Let us glance for a moment over the route which 



470 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

Japan has already travelled. From the year 1870, 
the date of her first national loan, to the date of the 
loan of $150,000,000 for the war expenditure, the 
gross total of her loans has aggregated the sum of 
$432,459,459.50 outstanding in foreign and home 
markets, a sum which in amount is about three 
times the national revenue of Japan. 

What of other countries? France, for example, 
has a national loan more than eight times the annual 
revenue of that country; Italy has a national loan 
equivalent to seven years of its revenue; in the case 
of England, the national loan represents about five 
years of the government's income; with the United 
States, nearly four times the total revenue equals 
the amount of the national loan. The loan of Ja- 
pan, reaching only three times the national incon e, 
being only $8.64 per capita of its population, is 
then, not a large but a very small amount wh ;n 
considered in relation to the proportions and j er 
capitas which obtain in other countries. It can 
therefore be safely asserted that the Japanese lean 
does not constitute for the people of Japan anything 
like the heavy financial burden which some have 
supposed it to be. 

And now, to sum up this review of the economic 
and financial conditions of Japan: 

Enough has been said to show that in a compara- 
tively brief space of time there has been an enormous 
increase in her industrial and commercial prosperity ; 
that the national revenues have advanced in amount 
literally by leaps and bounds; that her financial 
condition and prospects were never so good as at 



THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR, 47 1 

present; and that firmly guiding her ship of state 
through the problems of the moment, Japan has 
every reason to anticipate a smooth and prosperous 
voyage for the future of her national life. Already 
the faith of the Japanese people in that future is 
shown by the fact that when the government pi mned 
to issue exchequer bonds to the amount of $50,000 - 
000, they responded with the offer of four or five 
times that amount, and in place of the minimum 
rate of application, fixed by the government at 
$47.50, showed their willingness to contribute a 
much larger sum. This of itself shows how patriotic 
the Japanese really are, but it also indicates some- 
thing more; for as patriotic feeling cannot be mani- 
fested in such a manner unless there is enough 
money forthcoming, the taking up of bonds on 
such liberal terms reveals the existence of a people 
on whose thrift — a priceless national possession — 
the government of Japan can always depend. If it 
were necessary to say anything more in illustration 
of the industrial energy and thrift of the people of 
Japan, I should only need to mention the fact that 
the issue of $50,000,000 exchequer bonds not only 
did not — as the government thought it might — dis- 
turb the money market, but simply paved the way, 
after the bonds had been eagerly taken up, for a 
second issue of exchequer bonds by the Japanese 
Government to the amount of another $50,000,000. 
Observe, meanwhile, that in all this patriotism 
there is an element of voluntary retrenchment, not 
to say self-sacrifice. Not only have the people felt 
encouraged to engage more extensively in industrial 



472 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

enterprises, but they have freely given up what is 
known as ^Muxurious expenditure/'and have re- 
sorted to not a few of the practical economies of 
life as a means of enabling them to contribute all the 
more to the expenses of the war. It is therefore in 
the self-confidence born of economic strength that 
the Japanese people have encouraged their govern- 
ment to prosecute this war to its conclusion utterly 
regardless of financial considerations and of what 
the operations may cost. They have determined, 
should it become necessary, to spend the whole of 
the national wealth in realizing the objects for which 
hostilities were begun. They have self-reliance 
enough to feel that, should the war be prolonged 
for three, or even five years more, Japan will be 
strong enough to respond to its most exacting de- 
mands upon her economic and financial resources. 




II 



JAPAN'S POLICY 



AND IDEALS: DOMESTIC AND 
FOREIGN. 



To the people of Europe and America generally 
the readiness of Japan to cope with an enemy so 
formidable as Russia, was and still is no less than a 
mystery. The ease with which this Eastern nation 
has inflicted severe defeats upon a great Western 
Power is likewise a thing that has astonished the 
whole modern world. Japan, every one is saying, 
scarcely existed as a factor in the world's history 
fifty years ago. It was only when Commodore 
Perry halted his squadron in the Bay of Yedo that 
Japan began to count in Western eyes as of any 
consequence at all. How comes it, then, that this 
baby among nations, born so late in the Christian 
era^ properly commencing, so to speak, its career 
only after the Restoration of 1868 — how comes it 
that this merely precocious child has shown itself 
able to accomplish within a few months what any 
of its elders would have been proud to achieve? 
The question seems difficult to answer, though to 
such of the Japanese as have thought the matter out, 
the answer is simple enough. 

473 



474 ^^^ STORY OF JAPAN, 

In the first place, the notion that Japan is **new** 
or *'young" is radically false. She is neither newer 
nor younger than the German Empire, which ap- 
peared upon the scene in 1871, after Sedan. She is 
no more in the nursery than that nation whose first 
Parliament declared Victor Emmanuel King of Italy 
in 1861. Looking at the case even in this superfi- 
cial aspect of recent events, glancing back no 
further than fifty years, it is plain that her "youth" 
is imaginary. As a matter of fact, Japan is old, 
very old indeed. So are her institutions. So are 
her traditions. So are her ideals. The authentic 
history of Japan dates six hundred and sixty years 
further back than the beginning of the Christian era. 
Her present Emperor is the direct descendant of 
Jimmu Tenno, her first sovereign — making the pres- 
ent dynasty the oldest imperial dynasty existing 
on the globe at the present time. 

"Well, what of it?" might be asked. For one 
might object that Japan, far away under the rising 
sun, isolated during all the long ages from any con- 
tact whatsoever with the moving growth of the 
West, simply stood still, dragging out a perma- 
nently primitive existence until Commodore Perry 
came and opened the land to Western culture and 
Western progress. No idea, however, could be 
more mistaken than this. We grant, to be sure, 
that in a sense Perry woke her up. We admit 
that the Japanese were laggards and needed to 
be roused. But — and this is the point which fre- 
quently is overlooked — something was there to 
wake up. 



JAPAN'S POLICY AND IDEALS. 475 

In all truth, Japan possessed an ancient and com- 
plete civilization long before Europe ever took cog- 
nizance of her being. That state of civilization 
represented all the principal departments of human 
thought and activity. If Rome had her army of 
indomitable warriors, her profound law givers, her 
wise and just rulers, so had Japan. She, too, like 
the Romans, had a venerable, rational religion. 
Like the Greeks, she had her teachers and systems 
of philosophy; like them, her painters, sculptors, 
architects. Phoenicia and Carthage were eminent 
in trade and commerce, in maritime venture; Japan 
also has ever been the home of commerce, industry, 
and shipping. Agriculture, literature, and educa- 
tion would furnish examples for analogies no less 
striking. There were, in short, variously develop- 
ing or progressing in the island empire the vari- 
ous branches of the civilization which Europe now 
boasts, independently of and concurrently with 
their unfolding and growth in Europe. The Japan- 
ese lived secluded from the rest of mankind, but 
within the limits of their own little island country 
they had a whole world of armies, law courts, 
books, workshops, churches, schools, theatres, stu- 
dios, etc. They had their cycles, in those islands, 
of warfare, statesmanship, religious movement, so- 
cial phenomena, philosophical teaching, commercial 
enterprise. In other words, her civilization had 
just as sound and substantial a foundation as that 
of any country on the map to-day. There is no 
good reason for the supposition, either, that they 
are intellectually an inferior race. Upon the 



476 THE STOR V OF J A PA N. 

premises just stated, how, indeed, should the Jap- 
anese be iniellectually inferior? 

To extend the comparison with Europe a little 
further, it must be observed that the present general 
condition of Japan (and especially her efficient mili- 
tary regime) is the fruit of a feudal system similar 
to that once prevailing in the monarchies of Europe 
that are now constitutionally governed — just as Ja- 
pan is. Her strength, like the strength of the 
European Powers, lies in devotion to the military 
ideal. In no country has the training of soldiers ever 
been more thorough or more exacting than with the 
Japanese. Their Samurai, or Knights of Feudal 
Japan, composing a large portion of the entire 
nation, to this day maintain the same lofty spirit 
of honor and valor and patriotism as the Spartans 
of old. 

Among Europeans and Americans the Japanese 
are frequently called "a nation of imitators." This 
proposition is true to a certain extent only, for its 
veracity diminishes upon a close study of her na- 
tional history. To those who really believe that 
they are, and shall remain, nothing but mere imita- 
tors, it may be pointed out: Here was a nation 
flooded all of a sudden with an ocean of new and 
foreign ideas thirty-seven years ago, and this nation 
has been weighing and balancing these strange and 
novel things, and has been sifting them out and has 
been quite calmly discriminating between them, 
deciding to keep the good ideas and to throw out 
the bad ones. This, surely, is not a nation of 
imitators, but rather one of keen and sagacious 



JAPAN'S POLICY AND IDEALS, 42 J 

adapters. At the beginning of the national era, the 
Japanese undoubtedly did imitate, but such hnita- 
tion was only preliminary to adaptation. After 
adapting foreign institutions and systems to their 
own customs and needs, the Japanese now find 
themselves starting on the road of originality. This 
can be shown by their progress — social and political 
— during the last thirty-seven years. Witness, like- 
wise, the achievements of Japan's fleet against the 
Russians, the strategy of her admirals, commanding 
squadrons where not a European or American face 
is to be seen. Has not Japan shown Europe and 
America how to conduct a modern naval campaign? 
Has she not taught them what can be done with 
torpedoes — if properly managed? Nor has she 
cause to blush for her land campaign, planned by a 
general staff of Japanese and carried out by Japan- 
ese generals without the assistance of a single for- 
eign officer. Has she not driven the Russians from 
their stronghold on the Yalu? Did she not capture 
the castle of Feng-Wang-Chung without firing a 
single shot? The strategy, the bravery, the origi- 
nality displayed all through perfectly express the 
spirit of the Samurai. Besides, Japan has been using 
her own Arisaka cannon, made in Japanese arsenals, 
and her own rifle, invented by General Murata, to 
say nothing of Dr. Shimose's smokeless powder — an 
explosive five times more potent than any other, 
not excepting the redoubtable lyddite. 

After all, there is nothing mysterious or wonder- 
ful about her recent successes; for it is Japan and 
not the Russians who have the advantage of an 



4/8 THE STORY OF JAPAJSr, 

ancient historic civilization, gray and mature in 
knowledge and experience and resource. So there 
is no further need to dwell on the much-neglected 
fact that when her very good friend Commodore 
Perry came to Japan he found a country where 
there was something to zvake up. Before the advent 
of Commodore Perry, Japan was a sealed casket 
containing the compressed atoms of Oriental civili- 
zation—the golden shrine of the Samurai spirit, 
only waiting for some one to open it ! And Presi- 
dent Fillmore was the benefactor to give the re- 
nowned and ever-to-be revered Commodore the 
key of the ''open-door" policy for Japan, honestly 
as well as earnestly urging upon Japan that, if she 
allowed the opportunity to pass, some other Power 
might compel her, at the point of the bayonet or at 
the cannon's mouth, to open her ports. Finally, 
by means of the gentle suasion and advice which 
the United States brought to bear, Japan was in- 
duced to adopt the "open door" policy, which was 
forever accepted and established for Japan by the 
Emperor on his accession to the throne in 1868. 

The commonly received opinion among American 
and European jurists hitherto seems to have been 
that constitutional government was not compatible 
with the social and political status of Oriental na- 
tions. Therefore, when a constitution was tried in 
the Ottoman Empire, no surprise was expressed by 
Western observers that the experiment resulted in 
a fiasco. And when the Emperor of Japan an- 
nounced by imperial edict in 1881 that at the end 
of ten years constitutional government would be 



JAPAN'S POLICY AND IDEALS. 479 

established in Japan, Western scholars and states- 
men naturally thought the attempt would prove as 
abortive in Japan as in Turkey. 

Nevertheless, in 1890, the first Japanese Parliament 
was convened in accordance with the terms of the 
constitution, which had been promulgated the year 
before, and during the fifteen years that have 
intervened since that time twenty sessions have 
been held. In spite of boisterous meetings and 
stormy discussions — which are not, after all, so 
uncommon in European or American legislative 
bodies — constitutional restrictions have been re- 
spected and . constitutional prerogatives upheld, 
until now it can be justly claimed that constitu- 
tional government has passed the experimental 
stage in Japan, and has become an integral part of 
the body politic. 

After the Imperial Restoration, in 1868, his Ma- 
jesty, the Emperor, in the solemn oath which he 
then took, proclaimed five liberal principles, one of 
them being to this effect: 

**We shall henceforth seek knowledge and wisdom 
in the outside world and establish the National 
Assembly, where the important affairs of State shall 
be decided by public opinion." 

This is the fundamental principle of Japan's 
national policy, in accordance v/ith which all sub- 
sequent reorganization and changes, both social and 
political, have been undertaken and consummated. 
Under its guidance, in 1875, the judicial system 
was perfected by the establishment of the Court of 
Cassation to maintain a uniform interpretation and 



480 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

application of the law. Japan already had courts 
of first instance and courts of appeal, but there was 
no court superior to all others — a court of final ap- 
peal wherein all judicial matters could be decided 
and unified. 

In the same year, also, an imperial edict was 
issued creating a senate, and clearly providing that 
in future all contemplated legislation should be sub- 
mitted by the cabinet to this body for discussion. 
Thus, even at that early day a system was estab- 
lished in Japan resembling the organization adopted 
by some Western nations of co-ordinate govern- 
mental branches, the executive, legislative, and 
judicial. This may be termed the first step taken 
by the Imperial Government to pave the way for 
the adoption of the constitutional system. 

In the way of educating the people in the conduct 
of public affairs, the Senate, in 1879, passed a law 
establishing an assembly in each of the provinces of 
the Empire, consisting of representatives elected by 
the taxpayers and empowered to discuss and vote 
upon the annual estimates of local revenue and 
expenditure submitted by the governors of the 
provinces. This was in effect a system similar in 
principle and in operation to local self-government 
as found in Western countries. 

This exercise of the right to discuss and vote 
upon provincial taxation and expenditures led to 
vigorous demands for the creation of a parliament, 
it being urged that such action was the only means 
of establishing zealous public interest in the welfare 
of the country. It was pointed out also that a 



JAPAN'S POLICY AND IDEALS, 481 

parliament would be in accord with the principle 
enunciated in the imperial oath of 1868. Public 
speeches and newspaper discussions intensified the 
popular demand, and as a result the famous imperial 
proclamation of 18S1 was issued, announcing that a 
constitution would be promulgated and the Parlia- 
ment opened in 1890. Discussion of the question 
showed that public education and capacity for this 
important change had reached a more advanced 
stage than some had thought would be possible; 
and, in consequence of a voluntary purpose, his Im- 
perial Majesty decided that he might, with due re- 
gard for the national welfare, fix a definite time when 
the intention graciously announced at the time of 
the Restoration would be carried into effect. 

As it was, nothing was done by haphazard or in 
haste. Ample time was given for the preparations 
that had to be made, and systematic steps were 
taken to make those preparations complete. The 
Emperor appointed Marquis Ito to go abroad for 
the purpose of studying the constitutions of Euro- 
pean countries, thereby intrusting him with the 
important task of preparing the draft of the Consti- 
tution. In 1884, after four years devoted to close 
study of the constitutional systems of Europe, the 
Marquis returned to Japan, and soon thereafter a 
commission was appointed to prepare the draft 
under his guidance. 

Until 1888, the work of the commission proceeded 
under the personal direction of Marquis Ito, when it 
was finally completed and submitted for the imperial 
sanction. Thereupon, in the spring of 1888, the 



482 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

Emperor organized the Privy Council and opened 
meetings for the consideration of the draft, which 
began in May and continued until January. His 
Imperial Majesty presided at all these meetings. 
After this careful deliberation, the Constitution was 
promulgated by the Emperor in person on the nth 
of February, 1889. 

There is an important difference between the 
constitutions of Western nations and that of Japan. 
The former are the outcome of popular uprisings 
against the tyranny of rulers — in other words, of a 
demand, as of natural right, by the people; conse- 
quently, even in monarchical Europe, constitutions 
are drawn in such terms as to lay the greatest stress 
upon popular rights, while at the same time curtail- 
ing the power of the sovereign. The Japanese 
Constitution, on the other hand, emanated from the 
Emperor, the fountain-head of all power. Before 
the people dreamed of popular rights or of a parlia- 
ment, the Emperor had already marked out the 
grand policy of establishing constitutional govern- 
ment in the future, because of his evident desire 
and purpose to elevate the country to an equal 
place among the civilized nations of the world, not 
only because he wished it, but also because that 
course was in strict accordance with the national 
policy bequeathed by his imperial ancestors. Fol- 
lowing that policy, our Constitution was drawn up 
with close adherence to and careful preservation of 
the fundamental principle of the Imperial Govern- 
ment from time immemorial. 

In form, however, it is similar to Western consti- 



japan' S POLICY AND IDEALS. 483 

tutions, with this difference: that the text of the 
Constitution contains only the fundamental prin- 
ciples of State, namely, the prerogatives of the 
Emperor; the rights and duties of the people; the 
powers of Parliament; the powers and duties of 
ministers of State and judiciary and finance. These 
are all embodied in seventy-six articles. Matters of 
detail, such, for example, as provisions relating to 
the rules and proceedings of Parliament, the laws 
for the election of members, the national budget, 
etc., are separate from articles enunciating funda- 
mental principles and are embodied in laws supple- 
mentary to the Constitution and enacted at the same 
time. It may be asked, Why was such a separation 
necessary? Because, when the first Parliament was 
opened, the government, as well as the members, in 
deliberating on national affairs^ might find it neces- 
sary to make changes in the laws relating to such 
subjects as those just enumerated. If such changes 
had to be made in the text of the Constitution, 
opportunity might be afforded for unscrupulous 
politicians to attempt to secure other changes affect- 
ing fundamental principles; and even if the attempt 
proved a failure, it would certainly lessen the author- 
ity of the Constitution. But when matters of detail 
are separated from the constitutional text, amend- 
ments, rendered necessary by changing conditions, 
can be easily made. This has been found to be the 
case especially with regard to the law relating to the 
election of members, in which the provisions con- 
cerning qualifications of members and other details 
have been modified from time to time in order 



484 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

to conform to the progress of the people and to 
changes in national conditions. 

Summing up the work of the Japanese Parlia= 
ment during the fifteen years of its existence, it 
can safely be said that the adoption of a consti- 
tutional form of government in Japan has elevated 
the country and educated the people to a higher 
and better sense of their power and responsibilities 
in the body politic and of their duties to the 
State. 

From the beginning of Japan's international rela- 
tions with the outside world, the Japanese have 
advocated arbitration, and have bound themselves 
to have international difficulties settled by this 
means. In the year 1875, a Chilean vessel brought 
five hundred Chinese slaves into the harbor of Yo- 
kohama, under the flag of a Christian nation, on 
board a ship of a Christian nation. Japan stopped 
that vessel and took every one of those Chinese 
slaves on shore and gave them freedom. The 
Chilean Government made the strongest protest 
against the action, but Japan moved not a bit. 
She stood on the ground of the protector of the 
peaceful subjects of the Chinese Empire, and upheld 
the principle of international law forbidding the 
slave trade in Christendom. But Japan had no 
support from the outside world; the Christian 
nations stood aloof. Consequently, the Chilean 
Government and the Japanese Government finally 
agreed to submit the matter to arbitration, and the 
arbitrator was the Czar of Russia. After the close 
of the investigation, the Czar gave the decision in 



JAPAN'S POLICY AND IDEALS, 485 

Japan's favor. This was the beginning of her na 
tional history with the outside world. 

The meaning of Russia's Manchurian policy is 
now no longer a secret. Pier aim was to dominate 
the province, to exclude from it all foreigners, and 
then to exploit it in her own interests. It is equally 
clear that if Russia should ever become supreme 
in Manchuria, no "open-door" policy would ever 
be allowed sway there. After Russia has been per- 
mitted to obtain undivided supremacy in Manchuria, 
it will be impossible for the free commercial inter- 
course contemplated by the United States and 
Japan to assert itself in the province from which 
Russia pledged herself to withdraw. 

Nor is this all. According to Russian law, while 
a foreign corporation in Russian territory can be 
sued by the Russians in her courts, they cannot sue 
Russian subjects or Russian companies in the same 
way. Therefore, in case Manchuria ever becomes 
Russian territory, all rights to sue in the courts will 
be denied to such foreign corporations as happen to 
be carrying on business in the province. 

Who will now undertake the responsibility of 
opening up the resources of China? This is a burn- 
ing question of the time. To-day that vast country, 
with its splendid possibilities, is wedged in from 
several sides by territorial encroachments on the 
part of European Powers. The nations, however, 
which have the greatest interest in the development 
of Chinese commerce are either Anglo-Saxon or 
under the influence of Anglo-Saxon civilization. 

The United States Government has, from the very 



486 THE STOR Y OF JAPAN. 

beginning, adopted the "open-door" policy in China 
— a policy diametrically opposed to that of Russia, 
which is aiming at the dismemberment of the Chi- 
nese Empire, as evidenced by the attempted annexa- 
tion of Manchuria to her Siberian dominions. Two 
policies are therefore represented: the one being 
known as the * * open-door, ' ' advocated by the United 
States, and the other being the dismemberment 
aimed at by Russia. Japan, because under the 
influence of Anglo-Saxon civilization, is now fight- 
ing for the maintenance of that "open-door" policy 
which the United States above all other countries 
is interested in upholding. On the other hand, the 
dismemberment of China is indorsed by those Euro- 
pean Powers which are guided by the principle of 
militarism, that is, by Russia, France, and Germany, 
Now the question is as to which of these two 
principles shall be adopted with regard to the future 
of Manchuria after the war. The Manchurian 
people — that is to say, the Chinese in Manchuria — 
have been treated badly by the Russians during 
the past years and they are ready to welcome any 
policy that is milder and more lenient than the one 
under which they have been ruled. Herein lies the 
great opportunity for England and the United 
States to introduce commercial freedom and equal- 
ity, thereby carrying out the "open-door" principle 
of the United States in tangible form. Manchuria 
may thus become an opening wedge, as it were, for 
the introduction of liberal Anglo-Saxon ideas, which 
by this means would also find rapid extension in 
China^ not only in a commercial but in a political 



JAPAN'S POLICY AND IDEALS. 487 

sense, by serving as an object-lesson as to the dif- 
ference between Russian rigor and Anglo-Saxon 
lenity and moderation. 

Should European absolutism fix itself upon Asia, 
a little time will see the complete transformation of 
the map, and vast regions now lying beneath the 
legend "Chinese Empire" will be inscribed with the 
names of foreign governments. To-day there are 
three wedges started toward the heart of China and 
waiting only a stroke to split her territories asunder. 
The stroke will fall when Russia wins — if that time 
comes. The victory of Russia will fasten Russia's 
grasp permanently upon Manchuria; permit Ger- 
many, now occupying Kiau-Chow, to seize all the 
province of Shantung lying round about this con- 
cession ; and open the way for France to extend the 
frontiers of Tonkin further into the Chinese domain. 
This dismemberment — the seizing by outside peo- 
ples of territories to which they have no right but 
the force that makes them stronger than the ancient 
holders — involves not merely violation of the ideals 
of honor and justice, but also violence to interests 
that are materially vital to the world — its commerce 
and peace. 

Let us now consider what has been called "the 
yellow peril" — a phrase much used since- the out- 
break of the Russo-Japanese War. What do they 
mean when they talk of "yellow peril"? They 
mean that when Japan becomes supreme in the 
Orient she will unite under her banner all the peo- 
ples of Asia, and that through this combination 
Europe will be threatened by a peril which is called 



488 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

"yellow" because it will array the so-called '*yel- 
low" races against the races that are white. And 
they argue that, however just the cause of Japan 
may be in her struggle against Russia, Europe must 
not merely do nothing in the way of sympathizing 
with or helping her, but must side with Russia and 
aid her in so defeating and crushing Japan that she 
will never again be able to rise as an independent 
Power. Here is another cruel conclusion reached 
from no basis of actuality or fact. Look for a mo- 
ment at the origin of the phrase "yellow peril." It 
was manufactured by a German treacherous diplo- 
mat in order to rouse feelings of fear as well as the 
passion of hatred among the peoples of the West at 
the expense of the Japanese. Let me therefore 
describe the true history of the only "yellow peril" 
the world has ever had. For there was once a "yel- 
low peril," and the nations suffered from it. The 
first "yellow peril" in history was the invasion of 
Europe by the Mongolians in the year 1241 A.D. 
Penetrating to Moscow, they continued their march 
into Austria, and swarmed into other parts of 
Europe, devastating and plundering wherever they 
went. After thus terrorizing Europe and ravag- 
ing its eastern territories, the Mongols directed their 
course to Japan. They reached the Japanese islands 
in 1268, and the results of the " yellow peril " there 
were far more terrible than any which Europe had 
experienced. For thirteen years subsequent to that 
date, up to 1281, Japan had the "yellow peril" 
with her in its most menacing form. At one time the 
Mongolians were in actual occupation of her north- 



JAPAN'S POLICY AND IDEALS. 489 

ern coast. During the period of their stay they 
burned the villages, killed women and children, and 
plundered the Japanese of their treasures, not leav- 
ing a single conceivable act of wickedne3s uncom- 
mitted. Such was the terror inspired by the 
"yellow peril" as Japan knew it, that even to-day 
in Japan it is customary to stop children crying by 
telling them that the ''yellow man" or the Mongol 
will get them. All the while the Japanese people 
resisted the invaders, and the patriotic defence of 
their country enabled them to rout utterly and de- 
feat the enemy, with the slaughter of one hundred 
thousand Mongolians. 

When, therefore, we hear people talk of the "yel- 
low peril" in the East, with obvious reference to 
Japan, we feel bound to reply by asking who it was 
that, by the gallantry of its people, crushed back 
the tide of Mongolian invasion, and saved Europe 
from the wickedness of the only "yellow peril" 
which the world has ever known? And if, ignoring 
the fact that Japan was once the savior of Europe 
when Europe did not even know who had saved 
her, both Europe and America agree in fearing a 
modern "yellow peril," then it may be asserted, 
without the slightest chance of being successfully 
contradicted, that Japan has far more reason to fear 
a "white peril" in the East than the world or any 
part of it has to anticipate danger from Japan. 
Observe the advance of the European nations into 
Asia. What are the extension of French Tonquin 
- and the occupation of Kiau-Chow by Germany if 
not "white perils" for the Chinese Empire? There 



490 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

is another "white peril" for China on her northern 
border in Russia's occupation of Manchuria, but it 
is far more of a ** white peril" for Japan. She 
regards it as a real and dangerous menace to her na- 
tional existence, not for a moment imaginary in 
character like the "yellow peril" so much talked 
about in Europe and America. The phrase about 
the "yellow peril" is nothing more than a trick con- 
cocted by disingenuous and treacherous diplomats 
to disturb and bring to an end the cordial feelings 
which characterize the relations toward Japan of the 
United States and England. 

Japan, and only Japan, stands in the Far East for 
the progressiveness of the West — for freedom, for 
higher civilization — and her success will mean the 
extension of modern ideas naturally and peaceably 
through vast Asiatic domains — the occidentalizing 
of the East. 



Kentaro Kaneko. 



New York, 

May, 1905. 




APPENDIX I. 

LIST OF EMPERORS.* 

NAME. ?^teof Date of Age at 

Access. Death. Death. 

B.C. B.C. 

1. Jimmu 660 585 127 

2. Suizei 581 549 84 

3- Annei 548 511 57 

4. Itoku 510 477 77 

5- Kosho 475 393 114 

6. Koan 392 291 137 

7. Korei 290 215 128 

8. Kogen 214 158 116 

9. Kaikwa 157 98 in 

10. Sujin 97 30 119 

A.D. 

11. Suinin 29 70 141 

A.D. 

12. Keiko 71 130 143 

13. Selmu 131 190 108 

14. Chuai 192 200 52 

Jingo (Empress Regent)^ 201 269 100 

15. Ojin 270 310 no 

16. Nintoku 313 399 no 

' The list here printed is the official list issued by the government, 
and has been revised by Mr. Tateno, the Japanese Minister at 
Washington. 

^ In the official list Jingo is not reckoned, and the time of her reign 
is counted with that of her son and successor. 

491 



492 



THE STORY OF JAPAN. 



Name. 

17. Richa 

18. Hanzei 

19. Inkyo 

20. Anko 

21. Yuriyaku 

22. Seinei 

23. Kenzo 

24. Ninken 

25. Muretsu . . . , 

26. Keitai 

27. Ankan 

28. Senkwa 

29. Kimmei 

30. Bidatsu 

31. Yomei 

32. Sujun 

T^T,. Suiko (Empress) 

34. Jomei 

35. Kokyoku (Empress) .... 
2t(i. Kotoku 

37. Saimei (re-accession of 

Kokyoku 

38. Tenji 

39. Kobun 

40. Temmu 

41. Jito (Empress) 

42. Mommu 

43. Gemmy5 (Empress 

44. Gensho (Empress) 

45. Shomu 

46. Koken (Empress) 

47. Junnin .••• 



Date of 
Access. 

400 
406 
412 
454 
457 
480 

485 
488 

499 

507 
534 
536 

540 
572 
586 
588 

593 
629 
642 
645 

655 
668 
672 

673 
690 
697 

708 

715 

724 

749 
759 



Date of Age at 
Death. Death. 



405 
411 

453 
456 
479 
484 
487 
498 
506 

531 

535 
539 
571 
585 
587 
592 
628 
641 

654 

661 
671 
672 
686 
702 
707 
721 
748 
756 

765 



67 
60 
80 
56 

41 

50 
18 
82 
70 
73 
^Z 
48 
69 
73 
75 
49 

59 

68 
58 
25 
65 
S^ 
25 
61 
69 
56 



APPENDIX I, 493 

^, Date of Date of Age at 

^^^'^' Access. Death. Death. 

48. Koken (re-enthroned). . . 765 

49. Konin 77© 

50. Kwammu 782 

51. Heijo 806 

52. Saga = 810 

53. Ninna 824 

54. Nimmyo 834 

55. Montoku 85 1 

56. Seiwa 859 

57. Yozei 877 

58. Koko 885 

59. Uda ^%Z 

60. Daigo 898 

61. Shujaku 931 

62. Muragami 947 

6^. Reizei 968 

64. Enyu 970 

65. Kwazan 985 

66. Ichiyo 987 

67. Sanjo 1012 

68. Go-Ichijo 1017 

69. Go-Shujaku io37 

70. Go-Reizei 1047 

71. Go-Sanjo 1069 

72. Shirakawa 1073 

73. Horikawa 1087 

74. Toba 1 108 

75. Shutoku 1 1 24 

76. Konoye 1142 

77. Go-Shirakawa 1156 

78. Nijo 1159 

79. RokujO , 1 166 



770 


53 


781 


73 


806 


70 


824 


51 


842 


57 


840 


55 


850 


41 


858 


32 


880 


31 


949 


82 


887 


58 


931 


65 


930 


46 


952 


30 


967 


42 


lOII 


62 


991 


ZZ 


1008 


41 


lOII 


32 


IOI7 


42 


1028 


29 


1045 


37 


1068 


44 


1073 


40 


II29 


77 


II07 


29 


II56 


54 


1 164 


46 


1^55 


17 


1192 


6(i 


1 165 


23 


1176 


13 



494 



THE STORY OF JAPAN. 



Name. P^^^ °f 
Access. 

80. Takakura... 1169 

81. Antoku 1181 

82. Go-Toba 1186 

Z^. Tsuchi-mikado 1 199 

84. Juntoku 121 1 

85. Chukyo 1222 

86. Go-Horikawa 1221 

87. Yojo 1232 

88. Go-Saga 1242 

89. Go Fukakusa 1246 

90. Kameyama 1259 

91. Go-Uda 1274 

92. Fushimi., 1288 

93. Go-Fushimi 1298 

94. Go-Nijyo 1301 

95. Hanazono 1308 

()(i. Go-Daigo 1318 

97. Go-Murakami 1339 

98. Go-Kameyama 1373 

99. Go-Komatsu 1382 

100. Shoko 1414 

loi. Go-Hanazono 1429 

102. Go-Tsuchi-mikado 1465 

103. Go-Kashiwabara 1521 

104. Go-Nara 1536 

105. Ogimachi 1560 

106. Go-Yojo 1586 

107. Go-Mizuo 1611 

108. Myosho (Empress) 1630 

109. Go-Komyo 1643 

no. Go-Nishio 1656 

III. Reigen 1663 



Date of 


Age at 


Death. 


Death. 


I181 


21 


1 185 


15 


1239 


60 


1231 


37 


1242 


46 


1234 


17 


1234 


23 


1242 


12 


1272 


53 


1304 


62 


n^^ 


57 


1324 


58 


1317 


^Z 


^zz^ 


49 


1308 


24 


1348 


52 


1339 


52 


1368 


41 


1424 


78 


1433 


57 


1428 


28 


1470 


52 


1500 


59 


1526 


^Z 


1557 


62 


1593 


77 


1617 


47 


1680 


85 


1696 


74 


1654 


22 


1685 


49 


1732 


79 



APPENDIX /. 



495 



Name. 



Date of 

Access. 



112. Higashiyama 1687 

113. Naka-mikado 1710 

1 14. Sakuramachi 1720 

1 15. Momozono 1747 

116. Go- Sakuramachi 

(Empress) . 1763 

117 Go-Momozono 1771 

118. Kokaku 1780 

119. Jinko 1817 

120. Komei 1847 

121. Mutsuhito (reigning 

emperor) i863 



Date of 
Death. 


Age at 
Death. 


1709 


35 


1737 


37 


1750 
1762 


31 
22 


1813 


74 


1779 
1840 
1846 
1867 


22 

70 

47 

37 




APPENDIX II. 
LIST OF YEAR PERIODS.' 

■N-AMTT Japanese Christian 

• Era. Era. 

Taikwa , 1305 645 

Hakuchi 1310 650 

Saimei 1315 655 

Tenji 1322 662 

Sujaku 1332 672 

Hakuho 1333 673 

Sucho 1346 686 

Jito 1347 687 

Momm 1357 697 

Daiho 1361 701 

Keiun 1364 704 

Wado 1368 708 

Reiki 1375 715 

^ From Japanese Chronological Tables, by William Bramsen, 1880. 

The system of counting from year-periods {iiengo) was introduced 
from China. These periods of Japanese history do not correspond 
to the reigns of the emperors. A new one was chosen whenever it 
was deemed necessary to commemorate an auspicious or ward off a 
malign event. By a notification issued in 1872 it was announced 
that hereafter the year-period should be changed but once during the 
reign of an emperor. The current period, Meiji (Enlightened Peace), 
will therefore continue during the reign of the present emperor. 

The numbers in the second column of this table indicate the years 
as counted from the founding of the empire by Jimmu Tenno, 
According to the official chronology this occurred B.C. 660. 



APPENDIX II. 497 

Name. J^Pg^^^ ^^"e1^« 

VOrO 1377 717 

Jinki 1384 724 

TembiO 1389 729 

TembiO shoho 1409 749 

Tembio hoji 1417 757 

Tembio jingo 1425 765 

Jingo keiun 1427 767 

Hoki 1430 770 

TenO o 1441 7S1' 

Enriaku 1442 782 

DaidOv 1466 806 

Konin 1470 810 

TenchO 1484 S24 

Jowa 1494 834 

Kajo 1508 848 

Ninju 1511 851 

Saiko 1514 854 

Tenan ^ 1517 857 

Jogwan . 1519 859 

Gwangio i537 877 

Ninna 1545 885 

Kwampei 1549 889 

Shotai 1558 898 

Engi..., 1561 901 

Encho 1583 923 

Johei 1591 931 

Tengio 1598 938 

Tenriaku 1607 947 

Tentoku 1617 957 

Owa 1621 961 

Koho 1624 964 

Anna 1628 968 



4g8 THE STORY OP JAPAN, 

Name. J^P^^^^^^ ^^"^tkn 

Tenroku 1630 970 

Ten-en 1633 973 

Jogen 1636 976 

Tengen 1638 978 

Eikwan 1643 983 

Kwanna 1645 985 

Ei-en 1647 987 

Eiso 1649 989 

Shoriaku 1650 990 

Chotoku 1655 995 

Choho 1659 • 999 

Kwanko 1664 1 004 

Chowa 1672 1012 

Kwannin 1677 1017 

Ji-an 1681 1021 

Manju 1684 1024 

Chogen 1688 1028 

Choriaku 1697 1037 

Chokiu 1700 1040 

Kwantoku 1 704 1044 

Eijo 1706 1046 

Tengi , 1713 1053 

Kohei 17 18 1058 

Jiriaku 1725 1065 

Enkiu 1729 1069 

Joho 1734 1074 

Joriaku 1737 1077 

Eiho 1741 1081 

Otoku 1744 1084 

Kwanji 1747 1087 

Kaho 1754 1094 

Eicho ... ..... 1756 1096 



APPENDIX IL 499 

!.,,,„ Japanese Christian 

NAME. J i^E^^ E^^^ 

Jotoku , 1757 1097 

Kowa.... 1759 1099 

Choji .a 1764 1104 

Kajo 1766 1 106 

Tennin 1768 1108 

Tenei 1770 mo 

Eikiu , 1773 II 13 

Genei 1778 mS 

Ho-an 1780 1120 

Tenji 1784 1124 

Daiji.. 1786 1126 

Tenjo.., 1791 1131 

Chojo 1792 1132 

Ho-en 1795 1135 

Eiji 1801 1 141 

Koji 1802 1 142 

Tenyo 1804 1 144 

Kiu-an 1805 1145 

Nimbio 1811 1151 

Kiuju 1814 1 154 

Hogen 1816 1156 

Heiji 1819 1159 

Eiriaku 1820 1160 

Oho. 1821 1161 

Chokwan 1823 1163 

Eiman 1825 1 1 65 

Ninan 1826 1166 

Ka-o 1829 1169 

Jo-an 1831 1171 

Angen 1835 1175 

Jisho....e 1837 1177 

Yowa 1841 1181 



500 



THE STORY OF JAPAN. 



Name. 

Ju-ei 

Genriaku 

Bunji 

Kenkiu 

Shoji 

Kennin 

Genkiti 

Kenei 

Jogen 

Kenriaku • . 

Kempo 

Jokiu 

Jo-o 

Gennin 

Karoku 

Antei 

Kwangi 

Jo-ei 

Tempuku 

Bunriaku 

Katei 

Riakunin 

En-o 

Ninji 

Kwangen 

Hoji 

Kencho 

Kogen 

Shoka 

Shogen 

Buno 

Kocho 



Japanese 


Christian 


Era. 


Era. 


1842 


I182 


1844 


1184 


1845 


I185 


1850 


I190 


1859 


1199 


1861 


1201 


1864 


1204 


1866 


1206 


1867 


1207 


1871 


I2II 


1873 


I213 


1879 


I219 


1882 


1222 


1884 


1224 


1885 


1225 


1887 


1227 


1889 


1229 


1892 


1232 


1893 


1233 


1894 


1234 


1895 


1235 


1898 


1238 


1899 


1239 


1900 


1240 


1903 


1243 


1907 


1247 


1909 


1249 


1916 


1256 


1917 


1257 


1919 


1259 


1920 


1260 


1921 


I261 



APPENDIX 11. 501 

Japanese Christian 

Name. %ra. Era. 

Bunei 1924 1264 

Kenji i935 1275 

Koan 1938 1278 

Sho-o 1948 1288 

Einin 1953 1293 

Shoan i959 1299 

Kengen 1962 1302 

Kagen ^9^3 13^3 

Tokuji 1966 1306 

Enkio 1968 1308 

Ocho = 1971 1311 

Showa 1972 1312 

Bumpo 1977 1317 

Gen-o 1979 1319 

Genko 1981 1321 

Shochfa 1984 1324 

Kariaku 1986 1326 

Gentoku 1989 1329 

Shokio. 1992 ^2>Z^ 

Kemmu ^994 i334 

Engen 199^ 133^ 

Kokoku 1999 1339 

Shohei 2006 1346 

Kentoku 2030 1370 

Bunchu 2032 1372 

Tenju 2035 1375 

Kowa 2041 1381 

Genchu 2044 1384 

Meitoku 2050 1390 

0-ei - 2054 1394 

Shocho 2088 1428 

Eikio 2089 1429 



H02 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

__ Japanese Christian 

NAME. •» ^E,^, Era. 

Kakitsu 2101 1441 

Bunan 2 104 1444 

Hotoku 2109 1449 

Kotoku 2 1 1 2 145 2 

Kosho 2115 1455 

Choroku 2 1 1 7 145 7 

Kwansho 2120 1460 

Bimsho 2126 1466 

Onin 2127 1467 

Bummei 2129 1469 

Choko 2147 1487 

Entoku 2 149 1489 

Mei-o 2152 1492 

Bunki 2161 1501 

Eisho 2 164 1504 

Dai-ei........ 2181 1521 

Koroku 2188 1528 

Tembun 2192 1532 

Koji 2215 1555 

Eiroku 2218 1558 

Genki 2230 1570 

Tensho 2233 1573 

Bunroku 2252 1592 

Keicho 2256 1596 

Genna 2275 1615 

Kwanei 2284 1624 

Shoho 2304 1644 

Kei-an 2308 1648 

Jo-o 2312 1652 

Meireki 2315 1655 

Manji » . . 2318 1658 

Kwambun 2321 1661 



APPENDIX II, 



503 



•vraMir Japanese Christian 

^^^^- Era. Era. 

Empo 2333 1673 

Tenna 2341 1681 

Jokio 2344 1684 

Genroku 2348 1688 

H5-ei 2364 1704 

Shotoku o 2371 1711 

Kioho 2376 1716 

Gembun 2396 1 736 

Kwampo 2401 1 741 

Enkio 2404 1 744 

Kwanen 2408 1 748 

Horeki 241 1 175 1 

Meiwa . . . . o 2424 1764 

Anei 2432 1772 

Temmei 2441 1781 

Kwansei 2449 1789 

Kiowa 2461 t8oi 

Bunkwa 2464 1 804 

Bunsei 2478 1818 

Tempo 2490 1830 

Kokwa 2504 1844 

Ka-ei 2508 1 848 

Ansei 2514 1854 

Manen 2520 i860 

Bunkin 2521 1861 

Genji 2524 1864 

Kei-o 2525 1865 

Meiji 2528 1868 



APPENDIX III. 
LIST OF SHOGUNS.» 
/. — The Dynasty of Minamoto, 1 1 86- 1 2 1 9. 

1. Minamoto Yoritomo, 11 86-1 199, died ; received his 
appointment as shogun in 1 192. 

Note. — In this as in the later cases, the dates will be 
cited which correspond to the attainment of power and its 
general recognition, but which do not, in many cases, 
correspond to the grant of the title, which frequently was 
much later. 

2. Minamoto Yori-iye, 1 199-1203, son of the preceding, 
first deposed by his grandfather, Hojo Tokimasa, and 
banished to Izu, there was murdered in 1204. 

3. Minamoto Sanetomo, 1203-12 19, eleven years old, 
brother of the preceding, murdered by his nephew Kokio, 
the son of Yori-iye. 

The Time of the Shadow Shdguns. 1220-1338. 

The shoguns of this period, taken partly from the 
Fujiwara family, partly from the princes of the imperial 
house, were mostly children, and in every instance the 
weak agents of the Hojo family, whose chiefs, as regents 
(shiken)^ had the power in their hands, although the 

• Translated from the chronology of the shdguns in Mitfheilungen 
der deutschen Gesellschaft fur Natur und Volkerkunde Ostasiens 
Heft 3, 1873. 

504 



APPENDIX III. 505 

nominal bearers of the same were likewise principally 
only children. 

4. Fujiwara Yoritsune, 1 220-1243, nine years old, 
dethroned by Hojo Tsunetoki, died 1256. 

5. Fujiwara Yoritsugu, 1244-125 1, son of the pre- 
ceding, seven years old, deposed by H. Tokeyori, died 
1256. 

6. Munetaka Shino, 125 2-1 265, eleven, according to 
others thirteen, years old, deposed by H. Tokimune, died 

1274. 

7. Koreyasu Shino, 1 266-1 289, son of the preceding, 
three years old, deposed by H. Sadatoki, died 1325 
{1326?). 

8. Hisa-akira Shino, or, as he was called, Kumei Shino, 
1 289-1307, sixteen years old, deposed by H. Sadatoki, 
died 1328. 

9. Morikuni Shino, 1308-1333, son of the preceding, 
seven years old, dethroned by Nitsuda Yoshisada, died 
in the same year. 

10. Moriyoshi Shino, 1333-1334, son of the reigning 
Emperor Go-Daigo, dethroned by Taka-uji, murdered, 
in 1335, by Minamoto Nao-yoshi. 

11. Nari-Yoshi Shino, 1 334-1 338, dethroned and mur- 
dered by Taka-uji. 

//. — The Regents of the Hojo Family. 

Hojo Tokimasa, died 12 15, did not have the title of 
regent {shiken). 

Hojo Yoshitoki, 1205-12 24, from 1205 regent {shiken), 
murdered. 

Hojo Yasutoki, 1225-1242, died. 

Hojo Tsunetoki, 1 243-1 246, grandson of the preceding, 
retired in favor of his younger brother, Tokiyori, and 
died thirty-three years old. 



5o6. THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

Hojo Tokiyorl, 1 246-1 256, retired in favor of his son, 
Tokimune, and died 1263, thirty-seven years old. 

Hojo Tokimune, 125 7-1 284, seven years old, under 
the guardianship of H. Nagatoki and H. Masamura, died. 

Hojo Sadatoki, 1 284-1 300, adopted son of the preced- 
ing, retired in favor of Morotoki, the grandson of Toki- 
yori, but continued to exercise a potent influence over 
the regency, died 131 1. 

Hojo Morotoki, 1300-1311, died. 

Hojo Takatoki, 1312-1326, the son of Sadatoki, nine 
years old, under the guardianship of Hirotoki and Mune- 
nobu, retired in favor of his younger brother, Yasuye, 
who likewise soon withdrew. 

Until the fall of the Hojo family Takatoki really con- 
ducted the regency, although others held the title. After 
the taking of Kamakura by Nitta Yoshisada in 1333, he 
killed himself. 

///. — The Dynasty of Ashikaga. 1 334-1573. 

12. Ashikaga Taka-uji, 1334-1358, died fifty-three 
years old. 

13. Ashikaga Yoshimori, 1359-1367, retired in favor 
of his son Yoshimitsu, died 1408, fifty-one years old. 

14. Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, 1368-1393, retired in favor 
of his son, Yoshimochi, at the age of thirty-seven years, 
died 1409. 

15. Ashikaga Yoshimochi, 1394-1422, retired in favor 
of his son, Yoshikatsu. 

16. Ashikaga Yoshikatsu, 1 423-1425, died nineteen 
years old. Ashikaga Yoshimochi, 142 5-1 42 8, the fifteenth 
shogun, took the power again, and died forty-three years 
old. 

17 Ashikaga Yoshinobu, 1428-1441, murdered by AJca- 



APPENDIX III. 507 

matsu Mitsusuke, forty-eight years old. From 1429 
called Yoshinori. 

18. Ashikaga Yoshikatsu, 1441-1443, son of the pre- 
ceding, eight years old, died. 

19. Ashikaga Yoshinari, called Yoshimasa, 1443-1473, 
brother of the preceding, eight years old, retired, and 
died in 1490. 

20. Ashikaga Yoshinao, 1473-1489, died twenty-five 
years old ; from 1488, called Yoshihiro. 

2 1. Ashikaga Yoshimura, 1490-1493, nephew of Yoshi- 
masa, twenty-five years old, taken prisoner and de- 
throned by Hosokawa Motomoto. 

22. Ashikaga Yoshimitsi, 1493-1508, had to flee, died 
151 1 ; from 1449 called Yoshitaku, and from 1502 
Yoshisurai ; Yoshitada, 1508-1521, is Yoshimura, who 
from the year 1501 bore the name, and since that time 
was the shogun of the enemy at war with Yoshisumi, 
had to flee, was deposed, and died, 1523. 

23. Ashikaga Yoshinaru, 15 21-1546, son of Yoshisumi, 
retired in favor of his son, Yoshifushi, died 1550, forty 
years old. 

24. Ashikaga Yoshifushi, 1547-15 65, eleven years old, 
killed himself in his palace, having been confined there 
by the rebels. 

25. Ashikaga Yoshigi-ei or Yoshinaga, 1568 died, im- 
portant as opposition shogun. 

26. Ashikaga Yoshi-aki, 1568-1573, deposed by Nobu- 
naga, died 1597. 

IV.— The Time of the Usurpation. 15 73-1 603. 

27. Taira-no-Nobunaga, 15 73-1 5 82, killed himself, 
having been forced to do so by Akechi Mitsuhide. 

Akechi Mitsuhide, who usurped the title of shogun, 
ruled only twelve days, and fell conquered by Hideyoshi. 



5o8 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

28. Samboshi, 15 82-1586, grandson of Nobunaga. 

29. Toyotomi Hideyoshi, 15 86-1 5 98, was never shogun, 
but kwambaku ; (on his retirement called Taiko-sama). 

30. Hidetsugu, 1591-159S, nephew of the preceding, 
killed himself, was also kwambaku. 

31. Hideyori, 1600-16 15, son of Hideyofehi, killed him' 
self, conquered by leyasu. According to other accounts, 
he escaped and fled to Satsuma ; was Naifu (Minister of 
the Interior) from 1603. 

V. — The Dynasty of the Tokugawa. 1603-1868. 

32. leyasu, 1603-1605, died 1616 ; 1603 appointed 

shogun (posthumous title Gongensama). The shoguns of 
this dynasty frequently retired, as soon as their succes- 
sors grew up, but in spite of this fact they continued to 
lead the regency. 

2i2i' Hidetada, 1605-1623, died 1632, son of the pre- 
ceding. 

34. lemitsu, 1623-165 1, died 1652, son of the pre- 
ceding. 

35. letsuna, 1651-1680, died, son of the preceding. 
2fi. Tsunayoshi, 1681-1709, son of lemitsu, killed by 

his wife. 

37. lenobu, 1709-17 12, grandson of lemitsu, died. 

38. letsugu (letsubo according to Klaproth), 1713- 
17 15, died, son of the preceding. 

39. Yoshimune, 17 16-1745, retired, died 175 1, for- 
merly fifth Prince of Kii. 

40. leshige, 1745-1760 (according to others 1761 or 
1762), son of the preceding, died. 

41. leharu, 1760-1786, son of the preceding, died. 

42. lenari, 1 787-1836, died 1841, son of the preceding. 

43. leyoshi, 1837-185 2, son of the preceding. 



APPENDIX III, 



509 



44. lesada, 185 3-1 85 7, son of the preceding. 

45. lemochi, 185 8-1 866, died, formerly thirteenth 
Prince of Kii. 

46. Yoshihisa (Yoshinobu according to Adams, vol. ii. 
p. 37), 1867-1868, son of the Prince of Mito, Nari-akira, 
adopted by the Prince of Hitotsubashi, retired at the fall 
of shogunate in 1867. 




APPENDIX IV. 

LAWS OF SHOTOKU TAISHI.' 

[From Dai Nihonshi, vol. xii., folio 28 to 31.] 

I. — Harmony shall be esteemed and obedience shall 
be held in regard. Because dissensions prevail, therefore 
men are often unfaithful to their prince and disobedient 
to their fathers. Let adjoining districts be left in peace,, 
thus harmony between superior and inferior shall be cul- 
tivated and co-operation in matters of state shall be pro- 
moted, and thus the right reason of all things maybe 
reached and the right thing accomplished. 

II. — Let bountiful honor be always paid to the three 
precious elements of Buddhism, that is, to its priests, its 
ritual, and its founder. It is the highest religion in the 
universe, and all people in all generations must pay be- 
coming reverence to its doctrines. Do not harshly cen- 
sure men's wickedness but teach them faithfully until they 
yield obedience. Unless men rely upon Buddhism ther'=* 
is no way to convert them from the wrong to the right. 

III. — To the commands of the Emperor men must be 
duly obedient. The- prince must be looked upon as the 
heaven and his subjects as the earth. The earth con- 
tains all things and the heaven stretches over it. The 

' The translation of these laws of Shotoku Taishi was furnished 
by Mr. Tsuji Shinji, late vice-minister of state for education, and bj' 
Mr. Matsumoto Kumpei. 



APPENDIX IV, 511 

four seasons pass orderly along and the spirit of the 
universe is harmonious. If the earth were to cover the 
heaven the effect would be distraction. Hence the prince 
must command and the subject obey ; superiors must 
act and inferiors yield. Men ought therefore to pay due 
heed to the orders of the Emperor ; if not they will 
bring ruin on themselves. 

IV. — Politeness must be the chief rule of conduct for 
all officers and their colleagues in the court. The first 
principle governing subjects must be politeness. When 
superiors are not polite then inferiors will not keep in 
the right; when inferiors are not polite their conduct 
degenerates into crime. When both prince and sub- 
jects are polite, then social order is never disturbed and 
the state is kept in a condition of tranquillity. 

V. — Covetousness and rapacity must be expelled from 
the hearts of officers, and they must adjudicate with just 
discrimination in all suits that come before them. Even 
in a single day there are thousands of such suits, and in 
the course of years how great must be the accumulation ! 
If the suit is won through bribery, then the poor man 
can obtain no justice but only the rich. The poor man 
will have no sure place of dependence, and subjects will 
be driven to abandon their duty. 

VI. — To punish vice and to encourage virtue is the 
rule in good ancient law. The virtuous man must there- 
fore be promoted, and the vicious man must be surely 
punished. The man who is untruthful is a powerful in- 
strument to endanger the state and a keen weapon to 
destroy the nation. The flatterer loves to tell the faults 
of the inferior to the superior, and also to disclose the 
errors of the superior to the inferior. Such men are alike 
unfaithful to the prince and unfriendly to fellow-citizens, 
and in the end fail not to stir up social disorder. 



5 1 2 THE STOR V OF JAPAN. 

VII. — The duty of men in the government must be 
assigned according to their capacity. When intelligent 
men take service the applause of the people follows, but 
when bad men are in office calamities ensue. If wise 
officers are put on duty the matters of state are well 
managed, and the community is free from danger and 
prosperity prevails. Therefore in ancient times the wise 
king never selected the office for the man, but always 
selected the man to suit the office. 

VIII. — Too often officers and their colleagues come 
early to their offices and retire soon ; so that the public 
work accomplished in a single day is small. It is incum- 
bent on them to devote sufficient time to their tasks ; if 
not, then the work of the government cannot be done. 

IX. — Everything must be faithfully done, because 
fidelity is the origin of justice. The distinction between 
good and bad, between success and failure, depends on 
fidelity. When both prince and subjects are faithful 
then there are no duties which cannot be accomplished, 
but when both are unfaithful nothing can be done. 

X.— Give up all thoughts of indignation and be not 
angered with others on account of a disagreement of 
opinion. Each one may have a different point of view 
and may therefore come to a different conclusion. If 
the one side be right then the other must be wrong, or 
the cases may be just reversed. It would be unjust to 
set down one man as surely wise and another as positively 
stupid ; because men cannot attain perfection in their 
characters. It is impossible to decide either side to be 
perfectly right or perfectly wrong. While you are angry 
with another who has a different view from you, you can- 
not be sure lest you be in the wrong. Therefore though 
you may think yourself in the right, it is safer to follow 
the opinions of the many. 



APPENDIX IV, 513 

XI. — Let merit and demerit be carefully considered, 
and let rewards and punishments be meted out accord- 
ingly. In times past this has often failed to be justly 
done. It is incumbent on all who are entrusted with the 
direction of public affairs and on all officers of the gov- 
ernm/ nt to '<*ck carefully after the distribution of 
rewaids and punishments. 

XII. — Governors of provinces and their deputies must 
be careful not to impose too heavy duties on their sub- 
jects. One state never has more than one prince, and in 
like manner the subjects cannot have more than one 
master. The prince is the head of all his dominions and 
of all his subjects. The officers of government are also 
the subjects of the prince ; and there is no reason why 
they should dare to lay undue burdens upon others who 
are subjects of the same prince. 

XIII. — Each officer of the government has his ap- 
pointed duty. Sometimes officers complain of the stag- 
nation of business, which, however, is caused by their 
own absence from their appointed duties. They must 
not make a pretence of the performance of their duties, 
and by their neglect interrupt public affairs. 

XIV. — Subjects and officers must not be jealous 
of each other. If one person is envious of another, 
the second is sure to be envious of the first. Thus 
the evils of jealousy never end. If men shall envy 
each other on account of their talent and wisdom, no 
single wise man would ever be obtained for government 
service through a thousand years. What a noble method 
of governing a state would that be which expelled from 
its service all wise men ! 

XV.— To sacrifice private interests for the public good 
is the duty of the subject. When men are selfish there 
must be ill-will ; when ill-will comes, then with it must 



514 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

come iniquity, which will disturb the public welfare. Ill* 
will is sure to bring about the breaking of wholesome 
rules and the violation of the laws of the state. It is 
for this reason that the harmony between superior and 
inferior spoken of in the first article is so important. 

XVI. — To select a convenient season in which to em- 
pioy men for public work is the rule of good ancient 
law. Winter is a time of leisure ; but during the season 
between spring and autumn, in which they are employed 
on their farms and in feeding silk-worms, it is not ex- 
pedient to take men from their work, or interfere with 
them in their efforts to supply food and clothing. 

XVII. — Important matters should only be settled after 
due conference with many men. Trifling matters may be 
decided without conference, because they are not so ma- 
terial in their effects ; but weighty matters, on account of 
their far-reaching consequences, must be discussed with 
many councillors. It is thus that the right way shall be 
found and pursued. 




APPENDIX V. 

THE NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN JAPAN 

AND RUSSIA. 

1903-1904 

Official Correspondence 

Presented to the Imperial Diet, March, 1904 

No. I. 

BARON KOMURA TO MR. KURINO. 

ToKio, July 28th, 1903. 
(Telegram.) 

The Japanese Government have observed with close attention the 
development of affairs in Manchuria, and they view with grave con- 
cern the present situation there. So long as there were grounds for 
hope that Russia would carry out her engagement to China and her 
assurances to other Powers on the subject of the evacuation of Man- 
churia, the Japanese Government maintained an attitude of watchful 
reserve. But the recent action of Russia in formulating new de- 
mands in Peking and in consolidating rather than relaxing her hold 
on Manchuria compels belief that she has abandoned the intention of 
retiring from Manchuria, while her increased activity along the Co- 
rean frontier is such as to raise doubts regarding the limits of her 
ambition. The unrestrained permanent occupation of Manchuria by 
Russia would create a condition of things prejudicial to the security 
and interest of Japan. Such occupation would be destructive of the 
principle of equal opportunity and in impairment of the territorial 
integrity of China. But, what is of still more serious moment to the 
Japanese Government, Russia stationed on the flank of Corea would 
be a constant menace to the separate existence of that Empire, and 
in any event it would make Russia the dominant power in Corea. 

515 



5 16 THE STOR Y OF JAPAN. 

Corea is an important outpost in Japan's line of defence, and Japan 
consequently considers the independence of Corea absolutely essen- 
tial to her own repose and safety. Japan possesses paramount 
political as well as commercial and industrial interests an influence 
in Corea, which, having regard to her own security, she cannot con- 
sent to surrender to, or share with, any other Power. The Japanese 
Government have given the matter their most serious consideration 
and have resolved to approach the Russian Government in a spirit of 
conciliation and frankness with a view to the conclusion of an under- 
standing designed to compose questions which are at this time the 
cause of just and natural anxiety ; and in the estimation of the Jap- 
anese Government, the moment is opportune for making the attempt 
to bring about the desired adjustment. 

The Japanese Government, reposing confidence in your judgment 
and discretion, have decided to place these delicate negotiations in 
your hands. It is the wish of the Japanese Government to place 
their present invitation to the Russian Government entirely on an 
official footing, and you are accordingly instructed to open the 
question by presenting to Count LamsdorfT a Note Verbale to the 
following effect : 

"The Imperial Japanese Government, believing that the Im- 
perial Russian Government share with them the desire to remove 
from the relations of the two Empires every cause of future mis- 
understanding, would be glad to enter with the Imperial Russian 
Government upon examination of the condition of affairs in the 
Extreme East where their interests meet, with a view to a defini- 
tion of their respective special interests in those regions. If, as is 
confidently hoped, this suggestion meets approval in principle, the 
Imperial Japanese Government will be prepared to present to the 
Imperial Russian Government their views as to the nature and 
scope of the proposed understanding." 

In presenting the foregoing note to Count Lamsdorff, you will be 
careful to make him understand that our purposes are entirely 
friendly, but that we attach great importance to the subject. You 
will present the note to Count Lamsdorff as soon as possible, and 
keep me fully informed regarding the steps taken by you under this 
instruction ; and immediately upon the receipt of an affirmative reply 
from the Russian Government, the substance of our proposals will be 
telegraphed to you. 



APPENDIX V, 517 

No. 2. 
MR. KURINO TO BARON KOMURA. 
Petersburg, July 31st, 1903., Received, August 2d., 
(Telegram.) 

Your Excellency's telegram of the 28th instant was duly received. 
In accordance with the instructions contained therein, I saw Count 
Lamsdorff to-day and, before handing to His Excellency the Note 
Verbale, I stated substantially as follows : 

*' The condition of affairs in the Far East is becoming more and 
more complicated, and unless something be done at present with 
the view of removing all causes of misunderstanding between 
Japan and Russia, the relations of the two countries will increase 
in difficulty, entailing nothing but disadvantages to both countries. 
Under the circumstances, the Imperial Government, fully ani- 
mated by a spirit of frankness and conciliation, have decided to 
approach the Imperial Russian Government with a view to arrive 
at an understanding." 

I then handed to him the Note Verbale, saying that I was so in- 
structed. After he had seen it, I expressed my ardent hope that the 
Russian Government would share the above view in the same spirit. 
Count Lamsdorff said that he was perfectly satisfied with the decision 
of the Japanese Government, for, as he had said to me very often, an 
understanding between the two countries is not only desirable, but is 
the best policy ; should Russia and Japan enter into full understand- 
ing, no one would in future attempt to sow the seeds of discord be- 
tween the two countries. So far as he was concerned, he was, he 
said, in perfect accord with the view of the Japanese Government ; 
but he wished to see the Emperor on the subject before a definite 
answer was given. He expects to see the Emperor next Tuesday, 
and promised to give me an answer on the following day. He added 
that the Emperor would surely approve the matter. 



No. 3. 
BARON KOMURA TO MR. KURINO. 

ToKio, August 3d, 1903. 
(Telegram.) 

In reference to my telegram of the 28th July, the Japanese Gov- 



5 r8 THE STOR Y OF JAPAN, 

ernment, after giving most serious consideratior to the condition of 
affairs in those centres where the interests of the two Powers meet, 
have decided to propose the following as the bdsis of an understand- 
ing between Japan and Russia : 

" I. Mutual engagement to respect the independence and terri- 
torial integrity of the Chinese and Corean Empires and to maintain 
the principle of equal opportunity for the commerce and industry 
of all nations in those countries. 

" 2. Reciprocal recognition of Japan's preponderating interests 
in Corea and Russia's special interests in railway enterprises in 
Manchuria, and of the right of Japan to take in Corea and of 
Russia to take in Manchuria such measures as may be necessary 
for the protection of their respective interests as above defined, 
subject, however, to the provisions of Article I of this Agreement. 

"3. Reciprocal undertaking on the part of Russia and Japan 
not to impede development of those industrial and commercial ac- 
tivities respectively of Japan in Corea and of Russia in Manchuria, 
which are not inconsistent with the stipulations of Article I of this 
Agreement. 

" Additional engagement on the part of Russia not to impede 
the eventual extension of the Corean railway into southern Man- 
churia so as to connect with the East China and Shan-hai-kwan- 
Newchwang lines. 

"4. Reciprocal engagement that in case it is found necessary 
to send troops by Japan to Corea, or by Russia to Manchuria, for 
the purpose either of protecting the interests mentioned in Article 
II of this Agreement, or of suppressing insurrection or disorder 
calculated to create international complications, the troops so sent 
are in no case to exceed the actual number required and are to be 
forthwith recalled as soon as their missions are accomplished. 

"5. Recognition on the part of Russia of the exclusive right 
of Japan to give advice and assistance in the interest of reform and 
good government in Corea, including necessary military assistance. 

" 6. This Agreement to supplant all previous arrangements 
between Japan and Russia respecting Corea." 

In handing the foregoing project to Count Lamsdorft, you will say 
that it is presented for the consideration of the Russian Government 



AFPEl^DIX V. 519 

in the firm belief that it may be found to serve as a basis upon 
which to construct saiisfactory arrangement between the two Gov- 
ernments, and you will assure Count Lamsdorff that any amendment 
or suggestion he may find it necessary to offer will receive the im- 
mediate and friendly consideration of the Japanese Government. 
It will not be necessary for you to say much in elucidation of the 
separate items of the project as they are very largely self-explana- 
tory ; but you might point out that the project taken as a whole will 
be found to be but little more than the logical and essential develop- 
ment and extension of the principles already recognized by the two 
Governments, or of conditions embodied in the engagements which 
the project is designed to supplant. 

The foregoing instruction is sent to you in anticipation that the 
answer to the Note Verbale presented by you will be favorable ; 
but you will not act on that instruction until you receive further in- 
structions which will be given after you have communicated to me 



No. 4. 

MR. KURINO TO BARON KOMURA. 

Petersburg, August 5th, 1903. 
Received, August 6th, " 

(Telegram. 

Count Lamsdorff says he is authorized by the Emperor to open 
negotiations with me on the subject of the Note Verbale, 



No. 5. 
BARON KOMURA TO MR. KURINO, 

ToKio, August 6th, 1903. 
(Telegram.) 

In reference to your telegrams dated the 31st ultimo and 5th in- 
stant, you will state to Count Lamsdorff that the Imperial Govern- 
ment fully appreciate the friendly spirit with which the Russian 
Government received the proposal of the Japanese Government to 
enter upon negotiations with regard to an understanding between the 
two countries, and then present at once the project to the Russian 
Government in accordance with instructions contained in my tele- 
gram of the 3d instant. 



5 20 THE S TOR Y OF J A PAN. 

No. 6. 
MR. KURINO TO BARON KOMURA. 

Petersburg, August I2th, 1903. 

Received, August I4t]i, *' 

(Telegram.) 

Count Lamsdorff, being now very much occupied, could not re- 
ceive me until to-day, when I handed to His Excellency the pro- 
posed project in English in accordance with your instructions. I 
added that the longer the conclusion of an accord is postponed the 
more difficult will it become, as the condition of affairs in the Far 
East is now getting more and more complicated. I asked him to 
hasten the matter as much as possible. He said he would examine 
the project with care. 



No. 7. 
MR. KURINO TO BARON KOMURA. 

Petersburg, August 24th, 1903. 

Received, August 25th, " 

(Telegram.) 

Count Lamsdorff received me yesterday by special arrangement, 
and I asked his views as well as the attitude of the Russian Govern- 
ment regarding our proposals, adding that the Japanese Government 
are now impatiently waiting for a reply. He said that he had 
studied the project seriously, but that the Emperor having been ab- 
sent over a week on account of the manoeuvres, he had been unable 
to take any steps in the matter ; but he asked my opinion about 
transferring the negotiations to Tokio as there were many details 
which would have to be referred to Admiral Alexieff. I said to him 
that the Japanese Government having confided the matter to me, I 
should prefer to proceed with it, but that I was willing to communi- 
cate his opinion to you. 

He stated that he has Jllready sent copy of our project to Port 
Arthur with the view of obtaining the opinion of Admiral Alexieff. 
After such conversation, he said the question of Japanese railway 
enterprise in Manchuria would be difficult, but upon all other points 
perhaps the Russian Government would be able to come to an under- 
standing. I said that in order to arrive at a satisfactory understand- 



APPENDIX V. 521 

ing, mutual concessions as well as a spirit of conciliation are 
necessary, and that the Japanese Government would be prepared to 
give favorable consideration if any suggestions should be made by 
Count Lamsdorff. 



No. 8. 
BARON KOMURA TO MR, KURINO, 

ToKio, August 26th, 1903. 
(Telegram.) 

In reference to your telegram of the 24th instant, you will say to 
Count Lamsdorff that the Japanese Government would prefer to 
continue negotiations in St. Petersburg, believing that by so doing 
the work will be greatly facilitated. You can add that there are no 
details to be considered in connection with pending negotiations 
which, require local knowledge, and that the Japanese Government, 
having placed the negotiation in your hands, would dislike to make 
any change. You will say to Count Lamsdorff that the Japanese 
Government are anxiously awaiting a definite reply from his Govern- 
ment to their proposals, and you will continue to use every endeavor 
to obtain from him such a reply as soon as possible. 



No. 9. 
MR. KURINO TO BARON KOMURA. 

Petersburg, August 27th, 1903. • 
Received August 28th, " 

(Telegram.) 

I saw Count Lamsdorff to-day on the subject of your telegram 
dated the 26th instant. He said he had audience of the Emperor 
last Tuesday, and was told that His Majesty desires very much the 
early conclusion of an entente satisfactory for both countries, and 
expressed his wish to conduct the negotiations at Tokio so as to ex- 
pedite the matter. Then Count Lamsdorff added that the Emperor 
is to leave here for the country next Monday, and then for foreign 
countries for some time, and at the same time the Ministers con- 
cerned would be absent from St. Petersburg, Consequently, negoti- 
ations in Tokio would be much the easier and quicker way of con- 
cluding the matter. I said, referring to my conversation with Count 
LamsdorflE of the 23d instant, that the proposed understanding 



522 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

involved mostly questions ol principles and politics rather than de- 
t ail s, Ttnd consequently that the continuation of negotiations at St. 
Petersburg would be proper and at the same time the quickest way 
to arrive at a satisfactory understanding. He repeated what he had 
just said and insisted upon his proposition. 

Under the circumstances, 1 think it hardly possible to change the 
course now proposed by Count Lamsdorff under authority of the 
Emperor. I also think that negotiations at Tioko would entail 
many disadvantageous consequences ; and definite instruction for 
the further course is awaited. 



No. lo. 
BARON KOMURA TO MR. KURINO. 

ToKio, August 29th, 1903. 
(Telegram.) 

In reference to your telegram of the 27th instant, you will say to 
Count Lamsdorff that the Japanese Government still think that ne- 
gotiations will be facilitated if continued in St. Petersburg since the 
negotiations relate to principles and not to details ; and you will add 
that he and you having been duly authorized in the matter, and the 
proposals of Japan having been presented to him, the Japanese Gov- 
ernment had supposed that the seat of negotiation had been agreed 
to. You will accordingly urge upon Count Lamsdorff the desire of 
the Japanese Government to continue the negotiations in St. Peters- 
burg, and express a hope that his Government will reconsider the 
question. You will also say that the Japanese Government presume 
they are justified in assuming from the proposal to transfer negotia- 
tions to Tokio, that our proposals are in principle acceptable to the 
Russian Government as the basis of negotiations. 



No. II. 
MR. KURINO TO BARON KOMURA. 

Pktersburg, August 31st, 1903. 
Received, September 2d, *' 
(Telegram.) 

I saw Count Lamsdorf? to-day and explained fully the purport of 
your telegram of the 29th instant. The substance of his reply is as 
follows : 



APPENDIX V, 523 

He said that the negotiations relate to principles, but principles 
must be decided upon examination of local and practical questions. 
Accordingly the Russian Government desired to transfer the discus- 
sions to Tokio on account of the necessity of consultation with 
Admiral Alexieff, and also to manifest a sense of deference to Japan 
as the proposal had been made by her, and that the acceptance of 
the proposal at St. Petersburg does not signify that the seat of nego- 
tiations should be at the same place. He added that the proposal 
to transfer the negotiations to Tokio does not necessarily mean that 
our proposals are acceptable to the Russian Government, as bases for 
negotiations could not be determined without reference to practical 
questions concerning which Baron Rosen and Admiral Alexieff have 
much better knowledge than he himself. 

I urged as my opinion that, this being the most important question 
of high politics between our two countries, perhaps the Emperor had 
much to decide, and consequently it would be very convenient if the 
negotiations were conducted at St. Petersburg, and wished his serious 
reconsideration of the question of transfer as such reconsideration is 
much desired by the Japanese Government. I objected also to the 
suggestion of transfer on the ground that the question relates to 
principles as well as to the direction of international political con- 
cerns which may not be within the powers conferred upon Admiral 
Alexieff. If I remember rightly, I said, I understand that his author- 
ity is limited to mere questions of local administration. He said that 
on this question Admiral Alexieff would only be consulted and de- 
cide nothing, and added that he. Count Lamsdorff, is also desirous 
to settle the question as quickly as possible, and that is the reason 
why he suggested the transfer. The Russian Counter-Proposals are 
being prepared by persons having local knowledge, consequently the 
transfer of negotiations to Tokio would expedite the matter. Should 
the negotiations be conducted at St. Petersburg, he would be 
obliged to attend to the matter personally with me ; but this autumn 
he has to be long absent from the city on account of his attendance 
upon the Emperor. In case of his journey to Vienna and Rome, he 
may also visit a certain foreign country and would be liable to be 
frequently interrupted in the negotiations. But in case of negotia- 
tions at Tokio, he could direct them by telegraph, and telegrams 
from Tokio could always follow him wherever he might happen to 
be ; besides, he said, as we know very well, the Russian way of con- 



524 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

ducting business here is not very expeditious. At the conclusion, he 
said he is to have audience of the Emperor to-day, and will explain 
to him the reasons why an early understanding between the two 
countries is desirable as mentioned by me ; and he promised to 
repeat to His Majesty the special desire of the Japanese Government 
to conduct the negotiations at St. Petersburg ; but he added that no 
change of view on the subject could be expected. 



No 12. 
BARON KOMURA TO MR. KURINO. 

ToKio, September 2d, 1903. 
(Telegram.) 

In reference to your telegram of the 31st ultimo, you will say to 
Count I.amsdorff that it being the acknowledged desire of both 
Powers to arrive at an understanding as soon as possible, the 
Japanese Government fear that discussions would be greatly pro- 
tracted if the negotiations were now to be transferred to Tokio with- 
out some accepted basis for negotiations ; and you will add that the 
Japanese Government, having presented their proposals in concrete 
form to the Russian Government, believe that negotiations, wher- 
ever conducted, would be greatly facilitated if the Russian Govern- 
ment were primarily to announce whether such proposals can in 
principle be accepted as the basis for negotiations. The Japanese 
Government do not understand that the acceptance of those pro- 
posals as such basis would exclude amendments that might be 
regarded as necessary. On the contrary, such acceptance would 
merely fix a definite point of departure, which is desirable in all 
negotiations and very important in the present case. You will use 
every endeavor to secure the desired announcement from the Russian 
Government. 



No. 13. 
MR. KURINO TO BARON KOMURA. 

St. Petersburg, September 5th, 1903. 
Received, September 6th, " 
(Telegram.) 

I SAW Count Lamsdorff yesterday. With the view of preventing 
any misunderstanding about the sense of the instruction contained 



APPENDIX V, 525 

in your telegram of the 2d instant, and also with the view of impress- 
ing upon the Russian Government the feeling of importance placed 
by the Japanese Government on the matter, I prepared a Note Ver- 
bale, which I handed to him. We then had a rather prolonged 
discussion on the question. The substance of his remarks is as 
follows : 

According to his experience of 40 years in the Foreign Office, 
negotiations of an international character had always been conducted 
on the proposals of one Power together with the reply of the other, 
and it was not usual to accept the proposition of one Power as the 
sole basis of negotiations. Baron Rosen had already been com- 
manded by the Emperor to study seriously the proposition of the 
Japanese Government, and at the same time to prepare and elabo- 
rate Counter-Proposals in consultation with Admiral Alexieff, and, if 
the Japanese Government were willing to enter into negotiations, to 
commence immediately \\iQ pourparlers, adopting the propositions of 
the Japanese Government and the Russian Counter-Proposals as the 
basis of negotiations. I said during the discussion that if the Rus- 
sian Government were really animated by a desire to enter into a 
satisfactory arrangement with Japan, 1 should deem it highly neces- 
sary that the Russian Government should instruct their negotiators 
to adopt as the basis the Japanese proposals, or at least the essential 
principles thereof, so as to facilitate the attainment of the object of 
the negotiation, for 1 am inclined to doubt if Admiral Alexieff is dis- 
posed to enter into negotiations with Japan in a spirit of conciliation 
which is of prime necessity in order to arrive at a satisfactory under- 
standing. He said that when he received our project there were only 
two courses open for Russia to take, either to reject our proposals or 
to enter into negotiations on them. The Russian Government have 
adopted the latter course ; this does not, however, signify acceptance 
of our project in its entirety or in principle ; but having agreed to 
the proposition to enter into an entente, they have decided to examine 
the propositions and to prepare Counter- Proposals so that the two 
might be used as the basis of negotiations. Besides, he said that in 
our project there are certain clauses which could not be reconciled 
with Russian interests, and others which require modifications ; and 
he could not say that the Russian Government accepted our pro- 
posals even in principle as basis, but only in conjunction with their 
Coun ter- Proposals. 



526 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

Having exhausted every effort for the attainment of the desire of 
the Japanese Government, I am now fully convinced that it will not 
be possible to change the course proposed Vy Count Lamsdorff ; and 
I think that there is no other way for Japan but to agree to his sug- 
gestion. Count Lamsdorff is to leave here on the loth instant for 
Darmstadt to attend the Emperor of Russia. 



No. 14. 

BARON" KOMURA TO MR. KURINO, 

• ToKio, September 9th, 1903, 

(Telegram.) 

In reference to your telegram of the 5th instant, you are hereby 
instructed to inform Count Lamsdorff that the Japanese Government 
consent to transfer negotiations to Tokio, and you will add that the 
Japanese Government trust that instructions to the Russian Minister 
at Tokio are of such a character as to enable him to present 
the Russian Counter-Proposals without delay and to proceed immedi- 
ately with the negotiations. 

No. 15. 
MR, KURINO TO BARON" KOMURA. 

Petersburg, September gth, 1903. 
Received, September loth, '• 

(Telegram.) 

I SAW Count Lamsdorff to-day. He said Baron Rosen and Ad- 
miral Alexieff have already been instructed by telegraph, by order of 
the Emperor, to prepare the Counter- Proposals as quickly as possible 
and to commence negotiations at the earliest date, and he does not 
think it necessary to repeat the same instruction. 

No. 16. 

BARON KOMURA TO MR. KURINO, 

Tokio, September 24th, 1903. 
(Telegram.) 

Baron Rosen left Tokio on the 22d instant for Port Arthur. 
Previously to his departure, he called on me and told me that he had 
been instructed under Imperial order some time ago to hold himself 



APPENDIX V. 527 

leady to start at once for Port Arthur, whenever necessity might 
arise to do so, in order to expedite the preparation of the Russian 
Counter-Proposals between Admiral Alexieff and himself, and that 
he had just received from the Admiral a request to repair to Port 
Arthur for personal consultation on the subject. He added that he 
expected to come back within about eleven days. 

No. 17. 
BARON- KOMURA TO MR. KURINO. 

ToKio, October 5th, 1903. 
(Telegram.) 

Baron Rosen came back to Tokio on the 3d instant. He called 
on me on the same day and handed to me the following as the Rus- 
sian Counter-Proposals, which, he said, was sanctioned by the 
Emperor of Russia, upon joint presentation by Admiral Alexieff and 
himself : 

1. Mutual engagement to respect the independence and terri- 
torial integrity of the Corean Empire. 

2. Recognition by Russia of Japan's preponderating interests in 
Corea and of the right of Japan to give advice and assistance to 
Corea tending to improve the civil administration of the Empire 
without infringing the stipulations of Article I. 

3^ Engagement on the part of Russia not to impede the com- 
mercial and industrial undertakings of Japan in Corea, nor to 
oppose any measures taken for the purpose of protecting them so 
long as such measures do not infringe the stipulations of Article I. 

4. Recognition of the right of Japan to send for the same pur- 
pose troops to Corea, with the knowledge of Russia, but their 
number not to exceed that actually required, and with the engage- 
ment on the part of Japan to recall such troops as soon as their 
mission is accomplished. 

5. Mutual engagement not to use any part of the territory 
of Corea for strategical purposes nor to vindertake on the coasts of 
Corea any military works capable of menacing the freedom of 
navigation in the Straits of Corea. 

6. Mutual engagement to consider that part of the territory of 
Corea lying to the north of the 3gth parallel as a neutral zone into 
which neither of the Contracting Parties shall introduce troops. 



528 THE STOR V OF JAPAN, 

7. Recognition by Japan of Manchuria and its littoral as in all 
respects outside her sphere of interest. 

8. This Agreement to supplant all previous Agreements be- 
tween Russia and Japan respecting Corea. 

No. 18. 
BARON- KOMURA TO MR. KURINO. 

ToKio, October 8th, 1903. 
(Telegram.) 

In reference to my telegram of the 5th instant, I have begun dis- 
cussion with the Russian Minister to Japan taking our proposals and 
the Russian Counter-Proposals as the basis and with a view to se- 
cure, if possible, the recognition by Russia of the fundamental prin- 
ciples laid down in our proposals. 

No. 19. 
BARON KOMURA TO MR. KURINO. 

ToKio, October i6th, 1903. 
(Telegram.) 

In reference to my telegram of the 8th instant, negotiations are 
now going on between Baron Rosen and myself regarding the follow- 
ing proposals, which I had presented as amendment to the Russian 
Counter- Proposals : 

Article II. Insert the phrase " including military assistance " be- 
tween "assistance" and "to Corea." Change the word "civil" 
into "internal." 

Article III. Insert the phrase " the development of " between 
" impede " and " the commercial." " Undertakings" to be changed 
into "activities," and "taken" into " to be taken," and "them" 
into "those interests." 

Article IV. Recognition of the right of Japan to send troops to 
Corea for the purpose mentioned in the preceding Article or for the 
purpose of suppressing insurrection or disorder calculated to create 
international complications. 

Article VI. Mutual engagement to establish a neutral zone on the 
Corea-Manchuria frontier extending kilometres on each 



APPENDIX V. 529 

side into which neutral zone neither of the Contracting Parties shall 
introduce troops without the consent of the other. 

Article VII. To be struck out and replaced by the following 
three Articles : 

VII. Engagement on the part of Russia to respect China's 
sovereignty and territorial integrity in Manchuria and not to inter- 
fere with Japan's commercial freedom in Manchuria, 

VIII. Recognition by Japan of Russia's special interests in 
Manchuria and of the right of Russia to take such measures as may 
be necessary for the protection of those interests so long as such 
measures do not infringe the stipulations of the preceding Article. 

IX. Mutual engagement not to impede the connection of the 
Corean Railway and the East China railway when those railways 
shall have been eventually extended to the Yalu. 

Article VIII. of the Russian Counter-Proposals to be numbered 
Article X. 

No. 20. 
BARON- KOMURA TO AIR. KURINO. 

ToKio, October 22d, 1903. 
(Telegram.) 

The result of discussions between Baron Rosen and myself on our 
ameiidments to the Russian Counter-Proposals is as follows : 

Amendments to Articles II. and VI. accepted ad referendum. 
Article III. accepted, and Article IV. reserved for further discussion. 
It is in Article VII. of our amendment to Article VII. of the Rus- 
sian Counter-Proposals that no agreement could be reached, each 
insisting on the impossibility of accepting the other's proposition. 
The contention of the Russian Minister is : — ist, that the Russian 
Article VII. is the only compensation to Russia for the concessions 
to be made by her in respect of Corea ; and, 2d, that admission of 
the Japanese amendments on this point would be contrary to the 
principle always insisted on by Russia that the question concerning 
Manchuria is one exclusively for Russia and China, admitting of no 
interference on the part of any third Power. 

Our contention is : — ist, that Japan does not ask for any conces- 
sion from Russia with respect to Manchuria, her proposal being 

34 



5 30 THE S TOR Y OF J A PA N. 

simply to have confirmed in the Agreement the principle which has 
been voluntarily and repeatedly declared by Russia ; and 2d, that 
Japan possesses in Manchuria her treaty rights and commercial inter- 
ests, and she must obtain from Russia a guarantee for the security of 
those rights and interests as v^^ell as of the independence of Corea, 
which would be constantly menaced by Russia's definitive occupation 
of Manchuria. 



No. 21. 
BARON KOMURA TO MR. KURINO. 

ToKio, October 29th, 1903. 
(Telegram.) 

In reference to my telegram of the 22d instant, as the result of 
further discussions, the amendment on Article IV was finally ac- 
cepted ad referendum. Regarding Article VI, my proposal of fixing 
the extent of the neutral zone at 50 kilometres on each side of the 
frontier was accepted ad referendum. As to Article VII, no agree- 
ment could yet be reached. 

No. 22. 
BARON KOMURA TO MR. KURINO. 

ToKio, October 30th, 1903. 
(Telegram.) 

I PRESENTED to Baron Rosen on the 30th instant the following as 
definite amendments of the Imperial Government to the Russian 
Counter-Proposals : 

1. Mutual engagement to respect the independence and terri- 
torial integrity of the Chinese and Corean Empires. 

2. Recognition by Russia of Japan's preponderating interests 
in Corea and of the right of Japan to give to Corea advice and 
assistance, including military assistance, tending to improve the 
administration of the Corean Empire. 

3. Engagement on the part of Russia not to impede the devel- 
opment of the commercial and industrial activities of Japan in 
Corea, nor to oppose any measures taken for the purpose of pro= 
tecting those interests. 



APPENDIX V, 531 

4. Recognition by Russia of the right of Japan to send troops 
to Corea for the purpose mentioned in the preceding Article or 
for the purpose of suppressing insurrection or disorder calculated 
to create international complications. 

5. Engagement on the part of Japan not to undertake on the 
coasts of Corea any military works capable of menacing the free- 
dom of navigation in the Straits of Corea. 

6. Mutual engagement to establish a neutral zone on the 
Corea-Manchurian frontier extending 50 kilometres on each side, 
into which neutral zone neither of the Contracting Parties shall 
introduce troops without the consent of the other. 

7. Recognition by Japan that Manchuria is outside her sphere 
of special interest and recognition by Russia that Corea is outside 
her sphere of special interest. 

8. Recognition by Japan of Russia's special interests in Man- 
churia and of the right of Russia to take such measures as may be 
necessary for the protection of those interests. 

9. Engagement on the part of Japan not to interfere with the 
commercial and residential rights and immunities belonging to 
Russia in virtue of her treaty engagements with Corea, and en- 
gagement on the part of Russia not to interfere with the commer- 
cial and residential rights and immunities belonging 10 Japan in 
virtue of her treaty engagements with China. 

10. Mutual engagement not to impede the connection of the 
Corean railway and the East-China railway when those railways 
shall have been eventually extended to the Yalu. 

11. This Agreement to supplant all previous Agreements be- 
tween Japan and Russia respecting Corea. 

No. 23. 
BARON KOMURA TO MR. KdRINO. 

ToKio, November ist, 1903. 
(Telegram.) 

BaP-ON Rosen called on me October 31st and stated that the defi- 
nite proposals which I presented to him as amendments to the 
Russian proposals as reported in my telegram of the 30th October 
were beyond his instructions and that he would, November ist, tele- 



532 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

graph the full text of the said proposals to his Government and ask 
for further instructions. Accordingly you are instructed to see as 
soon as possible the Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs in the ab- 
sence of Count Lamsdorff, and say to him that in preparing the 
proposals in question, the Japanese Government did no fail to take 
into full consideration the wishes of the Russian Government. You 
will inform him that in proposing a joint engagement to respect the 
independence and territorial integrity of China equally with Corea, 
the Japanese Government were merely asking a reaffirmation of 
declarations already spontaneously made by Russia, and when it is 
considered that Russia is prepared to make such an engagement re- 
specting Corea, the reason for excluding China is not understood. 
The Japanese Government are prepared to admit that the Manchur- 
ian question, so far as it does not affect their rights and interests, is 
purely a Russo-Chinese question ; but Japan has extensive and im- 
portant rights and interests in that region, and the Japanese Gov- 
ernment think that in declaring that Manchuria is outside their 
sphere of special interest, they are at least entitled to ask for a cor- 
relative engagement on the part of Russia not to interfere with the 
commercial and residential rights and immunities belonging to 
Japan in virtue of her treaty engagements with China. You will in 
addition point out that the invitation of the Japanese Government 
which originated the present negotiations, had in view a definition of 
the special interest of Japan and Russia in those regions of the Far 
East where the interests of the two Powers meet. The Japanese 
Government could not have anticipated that the Russian Government, 
in accepting that invitation, would wish — as might be inferred from 
Article VII of their Counter-Proposals — to restrict the proposed 
definition exclusively to the region in which Japan possesses special 
interests. 

No. 24. 
MR. KURINO TO BARON KOMURA. 

Petersburg, November 3d, 1903. 
Received, November 3d, " 
(Telegram.) 

I SAW the Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs on the 2d Novem- 
ber. He said, as his personal opinion, that Japan is making the 



APPENDIX V, 533 

same demands only in different form and that those demands are too 
great. I asked in what respects the Japanese Government are con- 
sidered to be demanding too much, and I added that we do not ask 
anything more than the recognition of existing treaty rights and im- 
munities of Japan in Manchuria. He then stated that Baron Rosen 
had said nothing on the subject. The only difficulty, he said, is the 
connection of the Corean and Manchurian railways. To my ques- 
tion whether there are no other difficulties, he answered that the 
railway question is the only difficulty, although it had been accepted 
ad referendum ; and in conclusion I asked him to use his best influ- 
ence for the satisfactory solution of the question, as the Japanese 
Government are fully animated by the spirit of conciliation, and I 
urged him to advise Count Lamsdorff in the same sense and, if pos- 
sible, to approach the Emperor of Russia on the question. He said 
that he is willing to do so, and added that Count Lamsdorff will re- 
turn at the end of this week. 



No. 25. 
MR. KURINO TO BARON KOMURA. 

Petersburg, November 13th, 1903. 

Received, " " ** 

(Telegram.) 

I SAW Count Lamsdorff November I2th, and asked whether he had 
received a copy of the telegram which I had handed to Prince Obo- 
lensky and whether any action had been taken in the matter. He 
answered that he had submitted the telegram to the Emperor, and 
that before his departure from Darmstadt, he sent under an Imperial 
order instructions to Baron Rosen to continue negotiations with the 
Japanese Government. I asked him whether it is on the basis of 
our last proposal that Baron Rosen was instructed to go on negoti- 
ating. Count Lamsdorff said that Baron Rosen had been ordered by 
the Emperor to examine our last proposal with Admiral Alexieff and 
to make modification if necessary, and added that at this moment 
Baron Rosen and Admiral Alexieff must be engaged in the prepara- 
tion of Counter-Proposals. I remarked to Count Lamsdorff that 
according to the view of Prince Obolensky, the connection of Corean 
and Manchurian railways is the question that divides the two Gov- 



534 THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

ernments ; but the Japanese Government having subsequently modi- 
fied the article relating to the question, I cannot believe that it is 
the principal point on which an agreement cannot be established. 
Count Lamsdorff replied that he thinks for his part that it is the 
Manchurian question which divides the two parties, as he had said 
from the very beginning the Russian Government consider always 
that this question is a question exclusively between Russia and 
China, and it must be reserved to his Government to take all proper 
measures to safeguard their very considerable interests in Manchuria 
by means of an arrangement with China. I explained to him that 
Japan is ever ready to recognize the special and considerable inter- 
ests which Russia has in Manchuria, and that she has no intention 
whatever of trespassing upon them, but that Japan has a perfect 
right to demand that the independence and territorial integrity of 
China shall be respected and the rights and the interests of Japan in 
that region shall be formally guaranteed. Count Lamsdorff an- 
swered that the objection relates to the form rather than the sub- 
stance of the proposal. In Manchuria other Powers also have rights 
and interests, and Russia cannot enter into special arrangement with 
each of those Powers regarding Manchuria. I observed that should 
the Russian Government be in accord with Japan in principle, it is 
deeply to be regretted that an understanding cannot be reached, 
merely because of failure to find a suitable formula by which to bring 
the two Governments to an arrangement, and that I could not but 
ardently ask him to use his influence to bring about a satisfactory 
solution according t5 the principles already admitted by Russia. 



No. 26. 
BARON KOMURA TO MR, KURINO. 

ToKio, November 2ist, 1903. 
(Telegram.) 

Baron Rosen informed me November 20th that he received a 
telegram November 14th from Admiral Alexieff to the effect that 
Admiral Alexieif had already forwarded the Counter-Proposals to St. 
Petersburg. Baron Rosen added that he had not yet received any 
instructions on the subject of the Counter-Proposals. Consequently 
you are instructed to see Count Lamsdorff as soon as possible, and 
after explaining to him Baron Rosen's statements as above, you will 



APPENDIX V, 535 

say that the Japanese Government are anxious to proceed with the 
negotiations with all possible expedition; and you will urge him to 
exert his influence to secure the early dispatch of instructions to 
Baron Rosen in order that the negotiations may be resumed and 
concluded without delay. 



No. 27. 
MR. KURINO TO BARON KOMURA, 

Petersburg, November 22d, 1903. 
Received, ** 23d, " 

(Telegram.) 

I SAW Count Lamsdorff on the 22d November. He said that the 
modifications are already in the hands of the Emperor, but on 
account of the illness of the Empress, the former does not attend to 
any business affairs; hence the delay. I asked him to use his best 
endeavors to obtain the earliest possible Imperial order on the ques- 
tion. He said in reply that it will be better for me to write him a 
note giving the purport of instructions I have received from you: 
then he will immediately send it to the Emperor. At the end of 
the conversation I asked whether it is not possible for me to get 
some information about the modifications proposed by Admiral 
Alexieff. He seemed rather puzzled to give a direct answer; but he 
said that the Russian Government are ready to en'er into immediate 
agreement with Japan regarding Corea, even making large conces- 
sions, but as to Manchuria, Russia once took possession of the coun" 
try by right of conquest; nevertheless, she is willing to restore it to 
China, but with certain guarantees assuring security to the enormous 
interest which Russia has in Manchuria. While China is still insist- 
ing upon her refusal to give such guarantees, it is not possible for 
Russia to come to any arrangement with a third Power respecting 
Manchuria, as the question is exclusively between the two countries 
concerned. Then I said that if I accurately judge the nature of our 
proposition, it is not the intention of the Japanese Government to 
interfere with direct negotiations between the two Governments con- 
cerned, as may be seen from the first part of Article VII of our last 
proposition; but we only wish the independence and integrity of 
China as repeatedly declared on the part of Russia and security for 



5 36 THE STOR Y OF J A PAN, 

our important interests in that province. This is not for the pur« 
pose of interfering with the affairs of the two Powers concerned, but 
only to prevent misunderstanding between Russia and Japan regard- 
ing the province where both Powers have some interest; and I added 
that if in principle such an entente could in some form or other be 
arrived at, perhaps even negotiations between Russia and China 
might be more easily carried out. He thereupon repeated his 
request for me to write him a note as above mentioned, and that I 
should add my own opinion in it, and that he would immediately 
send it to the Emperor. He told me that he expects to have audi- 
ence on the 25th November at Skernevice and that the note could be 
sent to him towards this evening. I judge from the tone of Count 
Lamsdorff's conversation that the modifications proposed by 
Admiral Alexieff will not be favorable to our proposition regarding 
China and Manchuria. 



No. c8. 
BARON KOMURATO MR.KURINO, 

ToKlo, November 28th, 1903. 
(Telegram.) 

You report in your telegram of November 22nd that Count Lams- 
dorff expected to have audience of the Emperor on the 25th instant. 
Accordingly you are instructed to see Count Lamsdorff as soon as 
possible and ask him what action has been taken regarding further 
instructions to Baron Rosen. 



No. 29. 
MR, KURINO TO BARON KOMURA, 

Petersburg November, 27th, 1903. 

Received, *' 28th, " 

(Telegram.) 

Count Lamsdorff told me he did not see the Emperor November 
25th, on account of the sickness of the Empress. Interior inflam- 
mation of her right ear has necessitated an operation. He said that 
he immediately despatched to the Emperor my note mentioned in 
my telegram of November 22d. 



APPENDIX V. 537 

No. 30. 
BARONKOMURATOMR.KURINO, 

ToKio, December ist, 1903. 
(Telegram.) 

The Japanese Government have from the first attached the high- 
est importance to a speedy solution of the questions which form at 
this time the subject of negotiations betw^een Japan and Russia. It 
seemed to them that in a matter of such vital moment as that 
which engages the attention of the Cabinets of Tokio and St. Peters- 
burg, a quick conclusion was only second in importance to a satis- 
factory conclusion. Consistently with that view the Japanese 
Government have at all times during the progress of the negotiations 
made it a special point to give prompt answers to all propositions 
of the Russian Government. The negotiations have now been 
pending for no less than four months, and they have not yet reached 
a stage where the final issue can with certainty be predicted. In 
these circumstances the Japanese Government cannot but regard 
with, grave concern the situation for which the delays in negotiations 
are largely responsible. You are instructed to see Count Lamsdorff 
as soon as possible and place the foregoing considerations before him 
in such form and manner as to make your representations as impres- 
sive as possible. You will add that the Japanese Government 
believe they are rendering service to the general interest in thus 
frankly explaining to the Russian Government the actual state of 
things. 



No. 31. 
MR. KURINO TO BARON KOMURA. ■ 

Petersburg, "December 2nd 1903. 
Received, '* 3d, " 

(Telegram.) 

I HEARD that the Russian Government are still repeatedly communi- 
cating with Admiral Alexieff. 



538 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

No. 32. 

MR, KURINO TO BARON KOMURA. 

Petersburg, December 4th, 1903. 
Received, " " '* 

(Telegram.; 

Count Lamsdorff received me on the night of December 3d. I 
handed him a French translation of your telegram of December 1st, 
together with a letter which I addressed to him expressing fully the 
pressing situation under which the Japanese Government are now 
laboring. He said that the question requires consideration still, 
and he is in communication with Admiral Alexieff; but the Emperor 
is to return December 5th, and he said that he will fully explain 
the urgency of the matter on the occasion of his audience on the 
following Tuesday. He thinks he will then be able to send instruc- 
tions to Baron Rosen. To my question whether it is not possible 
for him to have audience at an earlier date, he said that Saturday is 
the fete of Crown Prince, no business is transacted on Sunday, and 
he will be occupied with other affairs on Monday. He promised to 
let me know the result of his audience next Wednesday. 



No. 33. 
MR, KURINO TO BARON KOMURA, 

Petersburg, December 9th, 1903. 
Received, " loth, " 

(Telegram.) 

Count Lamsdorff told me December 9th that an Imperial order 
had been sent yesterday to Admiral Alexieff and Baron Rosen to 
continue the negotiations in accordance with the Counter-Proposals 
of Admiral Alexieff, but that the Japanese propositions have been 
fully considered. I asked whether he could inform me of the nature 
of the propositions on which Baron Rosen is authorized to continue 
the negotiations. He said that they will be officially communicated 
within two or three days through Baron Rosen to the Japanese 
Government. 



APPENDIX V, 539 

No. 34. 
BARON KOMURA TO MR. KURINO. 

ToKio, December 12th, 1903. 
(Telegram.) 

Baron Rosen called on me December nth and, under instructions 
of his Government, officially presented to me the following Counter- 
Proposals of the Russian Government in reply to our definitive 
amendments as stated in my telegram of October 30th: 

1. Mutual engagement to respect the independence and terri- 
torial integrity of ttie Corean Empire. 

2. Recognition by Russia of Japan's preponderating interests 
in Corea and of the right of Japan to assist Corea with advice tend- 
ing to improve the civil administration. 

3. Engagement on the part of Russia not to oppose the de- 
velopment of the industrial and commercial activities of Japan in 
Corea, nor the adoption of measures for the protection of those 
interests. 

4. Recognition by Russia of the right of Japan to send troops 
to Corea for the purpose mentioned in the preceding Article, or 
for the purpose of suppressing insurrections or disorders capable 
of creating international complications, 

5. Mutual engagement not to make use of any part of the 
Corean territory for strategical purposes and not to undertake on 
the Corean coast any military works capable of menacing the free- 
dom of navigation in the Straits of Corea. 

6. Mutual engagement to consider the territory of Corea to 
the north of the 39th parallel as a neutral zone, within, the limits 
of which neither of the Contracting Parties shall introduce troops. 

7. Mutual engagement not to impede the connection of the 
Corean and East China Railways, when those railways shall have 
been extended to the Yalu. 

8. Abrogation of all previous agreements between Russia and 
Japan respecting Corea. 

No. 35. 
BARON KOMURA TO MR. KURINO, 

ToKio, December 21st, 1903. 
(Telegram.) 

In an interview with the Russian Minister, December 2 1st, I 



540 THE STORY OF JAPAN. 

pointed out the fundamental difiference in territorial compass be- 
tween Japan's original proposals and Russia's new Counter-Proposals 
and after fully explaining the reasons which induced the Japanese 
Government to believe it to be desirable in the general interest to 
include in the proposed understanding all regions in the Extreme 
East where the interests of the two Empires meet, I expressed the 
hope that the Russian Government would reconsider their position 
regarding that branch of the question. I also informed him fully 
respecting the amendments which the Japanese Government consider 
ii necessary to introduce into Russia's new Counter-Proposals. Ac- 
cordingly, in order to remove every possibility of misunderstanding 
on the part of Russia respecting the attitude of the Japanese Govern- 
ment, you are instructed to deliver to Count Lamsdorfl a Note Ver- 
bale to the following effect: 

The Imperial Government have examined with great care 
and attention the new Russian Counter- Proposals of the nth in- 
stant. They regret to find that the Imperial Russian Government 
did not see their way in those proposals to give to the compass of 
the suggested understanding the same territorial extension as was 
deemed essential by Japan. The Imperial Government, in their 
original invitation to the Imperial Russian Government in August 
last, endeavored to make it entirely clear that they desired, with a 
view to remove from their relations with the Imperial Russian 
Government every cause for future misunderstanding, to bring 
within the purview of the proposed arrangements all those regions 
in the Extreme East where the interests of the two Empires meei, 
and they cannot bring themselves to the conviction that a full 
realization of that desire can be expected if a large and important 
portion of those regions is wholly excluded from consideration. 
Accordingly, the Imperial Government feel constrained to ask the 
Imperial Russian Government to reconsider their position on the 
subject, and they hope that the Russian Government will be able 
to see their way to arrive at a satisfactory solution of the question. 
The Imperial Government also find it ^necessary to ask for the 
following amendments to the new Russian Counter-Proposals: 

a. Article II to read: " Recognition by Russia of Japan's 
■ preponderating interests in Corea and of the right of Japan to 
give Corea advice and assistance tending to improve the adminis- 
tration of the Corean Empire." 



APPENDIX V, 541 

b. Article V to read: " Mutual engagement not to undertake 
on the Corean coast any miliiary works capable of menacing the 
freedom of navigation in the Straits of Corea;" and 
c. Article VI to be suppressed. 

As the principal part of these amendments cannot be said to 
be in excess of the modifications which were agreed to ad referen- 
dum at Tokio, and as the Imperial Government consider those 
changes indispensable, it is hoped that they will receive the ready 
agreement of the Imperial Russian Government. 
In presenting the foregoing note to Count Lamsdorff, you will 
say that I have spoken to Baron Rosen in a similar sense, and you 
will also express the desire for an early response. 



No. 36. 
MR. KURINO TO BARON KOMURA. 

Petersburg, December 23rd, 1903. 

Received, " 24th, " 

(Telegram.) 

Upon receipt of your telegraphic instructions, I saw Count Lams- 
dorff December 23rd at 2 P. M. He told me he had received a tele- 
gram from Baron Rosen, stating that the latter had had an interview 
with you, and that particulars would follow, but such particulars had 
not been received yet byJiim. When I handed him the Note Ver- 
bale, he said that he would study it together with report from Baron 
Rosen, and that he would do his best to send the Russian answer at 
the earliest possible date; but he added that he would have to com- 
municate with Admiral Alexieff. In conclusion, I stated to him 
that under the present circumstances it might cause serious difficul- 
ties, even complications, if we failed to come to an entente^ and I 
hoped he would exercise his best influence so as to enable us to 
reach the desired end. 



No. 37. 
MR. KURINO TO BARON KOMURA. 

Petersburg, January ist, 1904. 
Received, " 2nd, " 

(Telegram.) 

I SAW Count Lamsdorff January ist, and asked whether any action 



542 THE STORY OF JAPAN', 

had been taken regarding our last propositions. He said they had 
been fully considered; and he asked me to assure you that Baron 
Rosen will soon be instructed to proceed with the negotiations in a 
friendly and conciliatory spirit, and he added that he saw no reason 
why we could not arrive at an entente. 



No. 38. 

BARON KOMURA TO MR. KURINO. 

ToKio, January 7th, 1904. 
(Telegram.) 

Baron Rosen handed to me January 6th the following reply of 
the Russian Government to our last propositions of December 21st 
last: 

" Having no objection to the amendments to Article II of the 
Russian Counter-Proposals as proposed by the Imperial Japanese 
Government, the Imperial Government considers it necessary: 

" I. To maintain the original wording of Article V which had 
already been agreed to by the Imperial Japanese Government, 
that is to say, ' mutual engagement not to use any part of the 
territory of Corea for strategical purposes, nor to undertake on the 
coasts of Corea any military works capable of menacing the free- 
dom of navigation in the Straits of Corea.' 

"2. To maintain Article VI concerning a neutral zone (this 
for the very purpose which the Imperial Japanese Government has 
likewise in view, that is to say, to eliminate everything that might 
lead to misunderstandings in the future; a similar zone, for ex- 
ample, exists between the Russian and British possessions in Cen- 
tral Asia). 

'* In case the above conditions are agreed to, the Imperial Govern- 
ment would be prepared to include in the projected agreement an 
Article of the following tenor: 

" ' Recognition by Japan of Manchuria and her littoral as being 
outside her sphere of interests, whilst Russia, within the limits of 
that province, will not impede Japan nor other Powers in the 
enjoyment of rights and privileges acquired by them under existing 
treaties with China, exclusive of theestablishment of settlements."* 



APPENDIX V, 543 

No. 39. 
BARON KOMURA TO MR. KURINO. 

ToKio, January 13th, 1904. 
(Telegram.) 

You are instructed to deliver to Count Lamsdorff a Note Ver- 
bale to the following effect, which, you will say, is intended to con- 
firm to him the views of the Imperial Government communicated by 
me to Baron Rosen on the 13th January: 

The Imperial Government, in order to arrive at a pacific solution 
of the pending questions and to firmly establish the basis of good 
relation between Japan and Russia, and in addition with a view to 
protect the rights and interests of Japan, have given most careful and 
serious consideration to the reply of the Imperial Russian Govern- 
ment which was delivered by His Excellency Baron Rosen on the 
6th instant. They have finally come to the conclusion that the 
following modifications are necessary, i. e. : 

1. Suppression of the first clause of Article V of the Russian 
Counter-Proposals (presented to the Japanese Government through 
Baron Rosen December nth), that is to say, " not to use any part 
of Corean territory for strategical purposes." 

2. Suppression of the whole Article (VI) concerning establish- 
ment of a neutral zone. 

The Russian proposal concerning Manchuria to be agreed 
to with the following modifications: 

a. Recognition by Japan of Manchuria and its littoral as 
being outside her sphere of interest and an engagement on the 
part of Russia to respect the territorial integrity of China in 
Manchuria. 

b. Russia within the limits of Manchuria will not impede 
Japan nor other Powers in the enjoyment of rights and privi- 
leges acquired by them under the existing treaties with China. 

c. Recognition by Russia of Corea and its littoral as being 
outside her sphere of interest. 

4. Addition of an article to the following effect: 
Recognition by Japan of Russia's special interests in Manchuria 
and of the right of Russia to take measures necessary for the pro- 
tection of those interests. 



544 ^^^ -5' '^^^ ^ OF J A PAN. 

The grounds for these amendments having been frequently and 
fully explained on previous occasions, the Imperial Government do 
not think it necessary to repeat the explanations. It is sufficient 
here to express their earnest hope for reconsideration by ilie 
Imperial Russian Government. 

It should be further remarked that the suppression of the clause 
excluding the establishment of settlements in Manchuria is desired 
because it conflicts with stipulations of the new Commercial Treaty 
between Japan and China. In this respect, however, Japan will be 
satisfied if she receives equal treatment with another Power which 
has already acquired similar rights in regard to settlement in Man- 
churia. The statement in the Russian reply that the Japanese 
Government have agreed to the original wording of Article V of the 
Russian Counter- Proposals is erroneous, no such agreement ever 
having been expressed by the Imperial Government. 

The above-mentioned amendments being proposed by the Imperial 
Government entirely in a spirit of conciliation, it is expected that 
they will be received with the same spirit at the hands of the Im- 
perial Russian Government ; and the Imperial Government further 
hope for an early reply from the Imperial Russian Government since 
further delay in the solution of the question will be extremely dis- 
advantageous to the two countries. 



No. 40. 
BARON KOMURA TO MR, KURINO. 

ToKio, January 23rd, 1904, 
(Telegram.) 

You are instructed to sound Count Lamsdorff respecting the prob- 
able nature of Russia's reply to our last note and when the reply 
will be delivered. 



No. 41. 

MR. KURINO TO BARON KOMURA. 

Petersburg, January 25th, 1904, 
Received,. " " " 

(Telegram.) 

In reference to your telegram of 23rd instant, I saw Count Lan:s 



APPENDIX V, 545 

dorff January 24th and asked his views in regard to our last proposals 
and also how soon the Russian answer could be given. He was not 
inclined to enter into details, but said that there are certain points to 
which he could not agree. He expects to lay his views before the 
Emperor next Tuesday, January 26th, and he hopes to be able to 
send an answer before long. 

M. de Hartwig, whom I saw this afternoon, told me that the 
Department of Foreign Affairs is yet in communication with Admiral 
Alexieif, and he cannot say how soon an answer can be sent to 
Japan. 



No. 42. 

BARON KOMURA TO MR. KURINO. 

ToKio, January 26th, 1904. 
(Telegram.) 

As the situation admits of no indefinite delay in the settlement of 
the questions involved, you will seek an interview with Count Lams- 
dorff at the earliest opportunity and state to him as an instruction 
from your Government that, in the opinion of the Imperial Govern- 
ment a further prolongation of the present state of things being 
calculated to accentuate the gravity of the situation, it is their ear- 
nest hope that they will be honored with an early reply, and that 
they wish to know at what time they may expect to receive the reply. 



No. 43. 
MR. KURINO TO BARON KOMURA. 

Petersburg, January 26th, 1904. 

Received, " 27th, *' 

(Telegram.) 

In reference to your telegram of the 26th instant, the Russian Minis- 
ter for Foreign Aifairs said that the JNIinisters of War, Marine, and 
other authorities concerned are to meet on the 28th January for the 
consideration of the question, and that their decision will be submit- 
ted to the Emperor for sanction, and he remarked that it had been 
the intention of Admiral Alexieff to come here ; but that idea was 
now abandoned, and his opinion will soon be received by telegraph. 



546 THE STOR Y OF JAPAN. 

Under these circumstances, he says, he is unable to give the exact 
date when the reply will be given; but he can say it will not be much 
delayed. He said that he had received reports from official sources 
to the effect that Japan had sent a considerable number of troops, 
munitions and war materials to Corea, and asked me whether 1 could 
give any explanation regarding it. I simply answered that I knew 
nothing of such facts, and regretted not being able to give him any 
explanation. He added that such action on the part of Japan causes 
a very bad impression, while the two Governments are engaged 
seriously in such important negotiations. Telegraph me for my in- 
formation whether the reports are true, and if so, the details. 



No. 44. 
BARON KOMURA TO MR. KURINO. 

TOKIO, January 26th, I904. 
(Telegram.) 

In reference to your telegram of 26th instant, you will see Count 
Lamsdorff at an early opportunity and say to him that you have 
been authorized to deny positively the statement that Japan has sent 
to Corea a considerable number of troops, munitions and war 
materials. As a matter of fact, no troops have recently been sent to 
Corea nor any ammunitions have been sent beyond the amount 
required for the ordinary use of the Japanese troops stationed in 
Corea. You will then ask him whether the report that Russian troops 
are being concentrated on the Corean frontier is true, and if so, that 
such military movement is to be highly deprecated. Finally, you 
will ask him whether he is not able to acquaint you, for your own 
information, with the nature of the decision taken at the proposed 
conference of the Ministers on the 28th January, and whether he can 
indicate the approximate date on which the Russian reply is to be 
given. 



No. 45. 
MR. KURINO TO BARON KOMURA. 

Petersburg, January 28th, 1904. 
Received, " 29th, ** 

(Telegram.) 

Count Lamsdorfif is satisfied with the explanation contained in 



APPENDIX V. 547 

your telegram of to-day. As to the question regarding the concen- 
tration of Russian troops near the Yalu, he does not believe it to be 
true, and he remarked that such newspaper reports are very regret- 
table. I tried to obtain infoimation about the decision of to-day's 
meeting. He said that it is not possible for him to say anything 
concerning it, as it will not be sent to the Emperor, and that until the 
respective Ministers have been received by the Emperor respecting 
the question, nothing can be said definitely. He stated that the 
Grand Duke Alexis and the Minister of Marine are to be received in 
audience next Monday, and the Minister of War and himself on 
Tuesday; and he thinks an answer will be sent to Admiral Alexieff 
on the latter day. I pointed out the urgent necessity to accelerate 
the dispatch of an answer as much as possible, because further pro- 
longation of the present condition is not only undesirable but 
rather dangerous. I added that all the while the world is loud with 
rumors and that I hoped he would take special steps so as to have 
an answer sent at an earlier date than mentioned. He replied that 
he knows the existing condition of things very well, but that the 
dates of audience being fixed as above-mentioned, it is not now 
possible to change them; and he repeate^i that he will do his best to 
send the reply next Tuesday. 



No. 46. 
BARON KOMURA TO MR. KURINO. 

ToKio, January 30th, 1904. 

(Telegram ) 

In reference to your telegram of January 28th, you are instructed 
to see Count Lamsdorff at the earliest opportunity and state to him 
substantially in the following sense: — 

" Having reported to your Government that the Russian Govern- 
ment would probably give a reply on next Tuesday, you have been 
instructed to say to Count Lamsdorff that, being fully convinced of 
the serious disadvantage to the two Powers concerned of the further 
prolongation of the present situation, the Imperial Government 
hoped that they might be able to receive the reply of the Russian 
Government earlier than the date mentioned by Count Lamsdorff. 
As it, however, appears that the receipt of the reply at an earlier 



54^ THE STORY OF JAPAN, 

date is not possible, the Imperial Government wish lo know whether 
they will be honored with the reply at the date mentioned by Count 
Lamsdorff, namely, next Tuesday, or, if it is not possible, what M'ill 
be the exact date on which the reply is to be given." 

If Count Lamsdorff specifies the day on which the reply is to be 
given, you will see him on that day and ask him to acquaint you 
with the exact nature of the reply. 

No. 47. • 
MR, KURINO TO BARON KOMURA. 

Petersburg, February ist, 1904. 

Received, " " " 

(Telegram.) 

Regarding your telegram of the 30th January, I saw Count 
Lamsdorff in the evening January 31st. He says he appreciates 
fully the gravity of the present situation, and is certainly desirous to 
send an answer as quickly as possible; but the question is a very 
serious one and is not to be lightly dealt with. In addition, the 
opinions of the Ministers concerned and Admiral Alexieff had to be 
brought into harmony; hence the natural delay. As to the date of 
sending an answer, he says, it is not possible for him to give the 
exact date, as it entirely depends upon the decision of the Emperor, 
though he will not fail to use his efforts to hurry the matter. 



No. 48. 

BARON KOMURA TO MR. KURINO. 

ToKio, February 5th, 1904. 2.15 p.m. 
(Telegram.) 

Further prolongation of the present situation being inadmissible 
the Imperial Government have decided to terminate the pending 
negotiations and to take such independent action as they may deem 
necessary to defend their menaced position and to protect their rights 
and interests. Accordingly you are instructed to address to Count 
Lamsdorff, immediately upon receipt of this telegram, a signed note 
to the following effect: — 



APPENDIX V. 549 

••The undersigned, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipo- 
tentiary of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan, has the honor, in 
pursuance of instructions from his Government, to address to His 
Excellency the Minister for Foreign Affairs of His Majesty the 
Emperor of all the Russias the following communication: 

** The Government of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan 
regard the independence and territorial integrity of the Empire of 
Corea as essential to their own repose and safety, and they are 
consequently unable to view with indifference any action tending 
to render the position of Corea insecure. 

*' The successive rejections by the Imperial Russian Govern- 
ment, by means of inadmissible amendments, of Japan's proposals 
respecting Corea, the adoption of which the Imperial Government 
regarded as indispensable to assure the independence and terri- 
torial integrity of the Corean Empire and to safeguard Japan's pre- 
ponderating interests in the Peninsula, coupled with the successive 
refusals of the Imperial Russian Government to enter into engage- 
ments to respect China's territorial integrity in Manchuria, which is 
seriously menaced by their continued occupation of the province, 
notwithstanding their treaty engagements with China and their 
repeated assurances to other Powers possessing interests in those 
regions, have made it necessary for the Imperial Government 
seriously to consider what measures of self-defence they are called 
upon to take. 

"In the presence of delays which remain largely unexplained, 
and naval and military activities which it is difficult to reconcile with 
entirely pacific aims, the Imperial Government have exercised in 
the depending negotiations a degree of forbearance which they 
believe affords abundant proof of their loyal desire to remove from 
their relations with the Imperial Russian Government every cause 
for future misunderstanding. But finding in their efforts no pros- 
pect of securing from the Imperial Russian Government an adhe- 
sion either to Japan's moderate and unselfish proposals or to any 
other proposals likely to establish a firm and enduring peace in 
the Extreme East, the Imperial Government have no other alter- 
native than to terminate the present futile negotiations. 

" In adopting that course the Imperial Government reserve to 
themselves the right to take such independent action as they may 
deem best to consolidate and defend their menaced position, as 



550 THE S TOR Y OF JAPAN, 

well as to protect their established rights and legitimate interests 
*' The Undersigned, etc., etc." 



No. 49. 

BARON KOMURA TO MR, KURINO. 

ToKio, February 5th, 1904. 2. 15 P. M. 

(Telegram.) 

Yo'J are instructed to address to Count Lamsdorff a signed note to 

the following effect simultaneously with the note mentioned in my 

previous telegram: — 

" The Undersigned, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Pleni- 
potentiary of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan, has the honor, 
in pursuance of instructions from his Government, to acquaint 
His Excellency the Minister for Foreign Affairs of His Majesty 
the Emperor of all the Russias that the Imperial Government 
of Japan, having exhausted without effect every means of 
conciliation with a view to the removal from their relations with the 
Imperial Russian Government of every cause for future complica- 
tions, and finding that their just representations and moderate and 
unselfish proposals in the interest of a firm and lasting peace in 
the Extreme East are not receiving the consideration which is 
their due, have resolved to sever their diplomatic relations with 
the Imperial Russian Government, which for the reason named 
have ceased to possess any value. 

" In further fulfilment of the command of his Government, the 

Undersigned has also the honor to announce to His Excellency 

Count Lamsdorff that it is his intention to take his departure from 

St. Petersburg with the staff of the Imperial Legation on. . . .date. 

** The Undersigned, etc., etc." 



No. 50. 
MR. KURINO TO BARON KOMURA. 

Petersburg, February 5th, 1904. 5.5 a.m. 
Received, " " •* 5.15 p.m. 

(Telegrara.) 

In compliance with the request of Count Lamsdorff, I went to see 



APPENDIX V, 



55 



him at 8 p.m. February 4th. He told me that the substance of the 
Russian answer had been just sent to Admiral Alexiefif to be trans- 
mitted to Baron Rosen. He added that Admiral Alexieff may hap- 
pen to introduce some changes so as to meet local circumstances, 
but in all probability there will be no such changes. He then stated 
as his own opinion that Russia desires the principle of independ- 
ence and integrity of Corea, and also of necessity the free passage of 
the Corean Straits. Though Russia is willing to make every pos- 
sible concession^ she does not desire to see Corea utilized for strate- 
gic purposes against Russia, and believes it useful for the consolidation 
of good relations with Japan to establish by common accord a buffer 
region between confines of direct influence and action of the two 
countries in the Far East. The above is expressed entirely as his 
personal opinion, and I cannot say whether the same is the substance 
of the above-mentioned answer, though it seems to be very probable. 



No. 51. 

MR. KURINO TO BARON KOMURA, 

Petersburg, February 6th, 1904. 5.57 p.m. 
Received, " 7th, '* 5.45 A.M. 

(Telegram.) 

In reference to your two telegrams of yesterday's date, I presented 
to Count Lamsdorff to-day at 4 P.M. the notes as instructed. I shall 
withdraw from here with my staff and students on the loth instant. 



rF^§^. 




INDEX. 



Abdication and adoption, Ii8 
Abdication of emperors, object 

of, 126 
Acupuncture, 308 
Adams, William, his early life, 
292 ; lands in Japan, 292 ; 
appears before the shdgun, 
293; at the shogun's court, 
294 ; builds vessels, 295 ; will 
of, 296, note ; his burial-place 
identified, 296, note 
Adoption and abdication, 118 
Ages of early emperors, 35 
Ainos, the original race, 20 ; 
present characteristics of, 21 ; 
number of, 2.2, ; arts of, 23 ; 
and the bear feast, 24 ; meas- 
urement of, 31 
Aizu troops, dismissed from 
guardianship of gates, 368 ; 
offended by recall of Choshu, 

369 . 

Akechi's treason against Nobu- 
naga, 192 

Ama-terasu-6-mi-kami, is pro- 
duced, 41 ; retires, 43 ; is in- 
duced to reappear, 44 

Animals, domestic, in Japan, 
14; wild, in Japan, 15; do- 
mestic and wild, in prehistoric 
times, 93 

An-jin-cho (Pilot Street), in Yedo, 
296 

Anjiro, meeting with Xavier,i72; 
baptism of, 172 

Areas of Japanese islands, 18 



Arisugawa - no • miya appointed 
commander-in-chief, 390 

Arms in early times, 92 

Arquebuse introduced by the Por- 
tuguese, 170 

Arts in the Tokugawa period, 
305 

Ashikaga shogunate, foundation 
of, 163 

Ashikaga Taka-uji and Nitta, 
feud between, 160 ; secures 
the principal rewards, 160 

Aston, W. G., on the invasion of 
Korea, 210, note 

Audiences, first, of foreign rep- 
resentatives, 373 

Azuma, origin of name, 71 



B 



Bear, the, among the Ainos, 24 

Bell at Kyoto, 289 

Benkei, legends concerning, 145 

Black current (Kuro Shiwo), its 
origin and course, 6 

Boats in prehistoric times, 93 

Books on various subjects brought 
from China, no 

British envoy receives a despatch 
concerning Shimonoseki, 348, 
note 

British legation attacked, 336 ; 
the second time attacked, 339 

British troops quartered at Yoko- 
hama, 350 

Buddhism, quarrel over its intro- 
duction, 104 ; triumphant in 
Japan, 106 



553 



554 



IN-DEX. 



Buddhist books first introduced, 

104 
Buddhist emblenis introduced, 

105 

Buddhists, Nobunaga's vengeance 

on, 186 
Buddhist treason against Satsuma, 

201, note 
Buel, S. J., Rev. D. H., on the 

attitude of the Jesuits, 246, 

note 
Bungo, Prince of, sends for Pinto, 

171 
Burial of living retainers, 64 



Calendar, European adopted, 387 

Cannibalism, inferred from the 
shell heaps, 25 ; reported by 
Marco Polo, 26, note 

Celestial deities, origin of, 37 

Census of the population, 18 

Cereals, the five, 14 

Chamberlain, B. H., translation 
of the Kojiki, 33, note ; con- 
tributions to our knowledge of 
Japan, 81 

Cha-no-yu(tea ceremonies) found- 
ed, 165 

Charter oath of the emperor, 380 

China, the opening of, hastens 
Japanese opening, 311 

Chinese calendar introduced, no 

Chinese literature first intro- 
duced, 77 

Chinese medical notions, 306 

Chinese written language, how 
received, 94 ; difficulties of , 272 

Choshu, daimyo of, after the 
victory of Sekigahara, 231 ; 
men of, plot to seize emperor, 
355 ; troops removed from 
guardianship of gates, 355 ; 
territory, the rendezvous for 
the disaffected, 356 ; daimyo 
of, recalled, 368 

Christian Enquiry, board of, 
established, 247 

Christianity after Xavier's death, 



178 ; condition of, at the be- 
ginning of Tokugawa sho- 
guns, 240 ; measures against, 
after the Shimabara rebellion, 
286 ; new edict against, 379 ; 
a reminiscence of, 379 
Christian religion not tolerated 

by the Legacy of leyasu, 288 
Christians, Hideyoshi's edict 
against, 204 ; sent into exile, 
380 
Christian valley in Tokyo, 267 
Chronology, Japanese, 36 
Chuai, Emperor, his capital in 

Kyushu, 73 ; death of, 75 
Cipango the object of explorers, 2 
Circuits, establishment of, 16 
Cities in Japan, 17 
Clay images to be buried in place 

of living retainers, 65 
Climate of Japanese islands, 1 1 
Cloth cited in the early rituals, 87 
Clothing among the early Japan- 
ese, 87 
Commercial treaties, the pro- 
visions of, 330 
Commercial treaty negotiated by 

Townsend Harris, 328 
Confucius, the doctrines of, 286 
Constitutional government, prep- 
arations for, 394 
Constitution, a written, 394 
Copper first discovered, I2i 
Cotton, when first introduced, 

88, note 
Country, condition of, at the rise 

of Nobunaga, 181 
Creation of Japanese islands, 38 
Creed and 'catechism drawn up 

by Xavier, 173 
Cremation first practised, 122 
Crests, imperial, 365 ; Tokugawa, 

239 
Cross, trampling on, 256 



Daibutsu at Kamakura, 287 
Daimiates abolished by imperial 
decree, 385 



INDEX, 



555 



Daimyos, influence of, during the 
Ashikaga period, i68 ; classes 
of, 278 ; number of different 
classes of, 280 ; the opinion of, 
about foreigners, 320 ; surren- 
der their privileges, 382 

Dan-no-ura, naval battle at, 142 

Dazaifu, seat of a vice-royalty, 
114 

Dead bodies removed to mourn- 
ing huts, 85 

Deities, celestial, origin of, 37 

Deliberative assembly promised, 
381 

Descent into Hades, 40 

Dissection never employed in 
early times, 1 12 

Divination by a tortoise shell, 
84 ; by the shoulder-blade of 
a deer, 84 

Domestic animals in Japan, 14 ; 
in use by the early Japanese, 
92 

Doves not eaten by the Mina- 
moto, 139 

Dragon-fly, story of, loi 

Drink in early times, 86 

Dutch and English rivalry in 
trade, 299 

Dutch, first arrival of, in Japan, 
296 ; authority of, to trade, 
' 297 ; introduced medical im- 
provements, 308 ; debt of grati- 
tude to the, 310 ; had warned 
the Japanese of Perry's expedi- 
tion, 314 

Djmasties, southern and northern , 
reconciled, 165 



Ear-mound at Kyoto, origin of, 
220 

Earthenware used by early Japan- 
ese, 92 

Earthquakes, occurrence of, 8 

Ecclesiastical and temporal em- 
perors, error concerning, 149, 
note 

Education in prehistoric times, 85 



E-ftimi^ trampling on the cross, 

256 
Embassy sent to the Pope, 187 ; 

received, 188 ; from Japan, 

visits foreign countries, 338 ; 

(1864) to foreign countries, 352 
Emishi, expedition sent against, 

123 
Emperor arrives in Yedo, 377 
Emperor, loyalty to, had grown 

formidable, 317 ; issues edict 

against attacks on foreigners, 

373 
Emperor Mutsuhito married, 378 
" Emperor of Japan," letter to, 

carried by Perry, 313 
Emperors, ages of early, 35 ; 

list of, constructed, 35 ; list of, 

491 

Empire, founding of, 51 

English, effort of the, to open 
trade with Japan, 298 ; rivalry 
of, with the Dutch, in trade, 
299 ; withdraw from Japanese 
trade, 300 ; ready to negotiate, 
322 

Enomoto Izumi-no-kami escapes 
with men-of-war, 375 

Eta and heindn relieved from dis- 
abilities, 387 

Etiquette of the road for daimyo's 
train, 342 

Expedition of Jimmu into the 
Main island, 52 

Extent of Japanese islands, 3 



False and corrupt school con- 
demned, 245 

Family names settled by Emperor 
Inkyo, 96 

Favored-nation clause, 324 

Ferreyra, Father Christopher, re- 
cantation of, 255 

Feudalism in Japan, 269 

Feudal privileges surrendered, 382 

Feudal system established by 
Yoritomo, 148 ; as arranged 
by leyasu, 277 



556 



INDEX. 



Financial arrangements for abo- 
lition of feudalism, 386 

Fish, as article of diet, 15 ; in 
Japanese waters, 15 

Five grains, quoted in the rituals, 
86 

Firearms introduced by the Por- 
tuguese, 170 

Fire-Shine and Fire-Subside, le- 
gend of, 47 

Food of the primitive Japanese, 
86 

Foreigners, attitude towards, 
309 ; expulsion of, decreed, 

355 

Foreign representatives, ignorant 
of the real difficulties, 337 ; 
invited to audiences, 372 

Formosa, the collision with, 387 

Fosse, Torment of, used in perse- 
cution of Christians, 254 

Founding the empire, 51 

Franciscans introduced into Ja- 
pan, 203 

French troops quartered at Yoko- 
hama, 35 T 

Fujiwara family, first founding 
of, 119 ; becomes prominent, 

125 
Fuji-yama or Fujisan, its position 

and height, 7 
Fushimi besieged and destroyed, 

228 



Geerts, Dr., on the conduct of 
Mr. Koekebacker, 258 

Girl who waited eighty years, 
100 

Go-Daigo, the Emperor, in pos- 
session of the insignia, 161 

Gold coin first issued, 121 

Gold, the discovery of, in Cali- 
fornia, hastens Japanese open- 
ing, 311 

Go-san-kS, the three honorable 
families, 277 

Government, early, of Japan, 82 • 
theory of, 117 ; new depart- 
ments of, 376 



Grigsby, Professor W. E., his 
paper on the Legacy of leyasu, 
301, note 

Gubbins, J. H., paper on Chris- 
tianity, 248 



H 



Hakodate', warlike operations at, 

375 
Harris, Townsend, arrives as 
U. S. consul, 327 ; admitted 
to an audience, 327 ; negotiates 
a commercial treaty, 328 
Hatamoto, the status of the, 280 
Hattori Ichijo on earthquakes, 8 
Heusken, Mr., secretary of 
American Legation assassin- 
ated 335 
Hidetada becomes shogun, 2gi 
Hidetsugu banished and com- 
pelled to commit hara-kiri, 
208 ; nephew of Hideyoshi, 
becomes kwambaku, 208 
Hideyori, son of Hideycrhi, made 
heir, 208 ; a source of disquiet- 
ude, 236 
Hideyoshi, the element of comedy 
in, 182, note ; as a strategist, 
183 ; as commandant at Kyoto, 
184; his capture of Takamatsu, 
190 ; his expedition into the 
central provinces, igo ; his 
revenge for the death of Nobu- 
naga, 195 ; appointed kwam- 
baku, 198 ; successive names 
of, 198, note ; his expedition 
against Satsuma, 199 ; his gen^ 
erous settlement of Satsuma 
difficulties, 20i ; his relations 
to Christianity, 202; his opposi- 
tion to Christians, reason for, 
204 ; conference of, with 
leyasu about Kwant5, 206 ; his 
letter to the god of the sea, 

206 ; takes the title of iaiko, 

207 ; his plans for invading 
Korea, 209 ; angry at the pro- 
posed investiture, 217 ; his 
second invasion of Korea, 219; 



INDEX. 



557 



on his deathbed, 220 ; appoints 
a board of regents at his death, 
222 ; burial-place of, 224 ; 
quarrels after the death of, 227; 
son of, a source of disquietude, 

Hirado, Portuguese resort to, 176 
Historiographers, first appointed, 

80 
Hitotsubashi, made shogun, 362 
H5jo, hereditary regents of sho- 

guns, 153 
Hojo, the historical reputation of, 

159 

Hojo Tokimasa, father-in-law of 
Yoritomo, 138 ; guardian of 
shoguns, 152 

Hojo Ujimasa, Hideyoshi's cam- 
paign against, 205 

Houses of the early Japanese, 90 

Hyogo, foreign representatives 
arrive at, 370 ; opened to 
foreign trade, 372 



lemitsu, his ability, 304 

lemochi, shogun, visits Kyoto, 
354 ; died, 361 

leyasu, makes peace with Hide- 
yoshi, ig7 ; named president of 
board of regents, 222 ; suggests 
the rebuilding of the temple of 
Daibutsu at Kyoto, 224 ; pedi- 
gree of, 225 ; where and when 
born, 225 ; Hideyoshi's last 
charge to, 226 ; prepares for a 
contest with his colleagues, 
227 ; his use of a proverb after 
the battle of Sekigahara, 230 ; 
his moderate use of victory, 
231; rearranges daimiates, 233; 
continues dual form of govern- 
ment, 233 ; appointed shogun, 
234 ; his edict against Chris- 
tians, 243; condemns "the 
false and corrupt school,'' 245; 
a statesman as well as general, 
269 ; portrait of, 270 ; a patron 
of learning, 271 ; his treatment 



of the daimyos, 275 ; abdicates 
the shogunate, 290 ; as ex- 
shogun, 291 ; in his retirement, 
300 

leyoshi, the twelfth shogun, dies, 
321 

Ignatius Loyola, beatification of, 
celebrated, 243 

li Kamon-no-kami, the swagger- 
ing prime-minister, 333 ; mur- 
der of, 335 

Imperial court assumes the gov- 
ernment, 368 

Imperial sanction of treaties, 361 

Impetuous-male-augustness, pro- 
duced, 42 ; visits the heavenly 
plains, 42; expelled, 42; insults 
his sister, 43 ; retires to Izumo, 

44 

Implements used by early Japan- 
ese, 91 

Impurity attached to birth and 
death, 84 

Indemnity for death of Richard- 
son, 344 

Indemnity, Shimonoseki, 349 

Inland sea, its situation, 6 

Internal disturbances caused by 
foreign treaties, 325 

Interpreters, early practice of, 
335, _ note. 

Investiture of Hideyoshi, 217 

ltd Hirobumi prepares a constitu- 
tion, 394 

Iwakura Tomomi, his part in 
negotiations between Satsuma 
and Choshu, 360 

Izanagi, creates the Japanese 
islands with Izanami, 38 ; fol- 
lows Izanami to Hades, 40 ; 
purifies himself, 40 

Izumo, legends concerning, 45 



Japanese islands, creation of, 38 
Japanese race, characteristics of, 

27 ; measurements of, 31 
Japanese surprised by Perry's ar< 

rival, 314 



558 



INDEX, 



Japanese syllabary, 274 

Japan expedition under Perry, 

arrival of, 314 
Jesuit fathers encouraged by No- 

bunaga, 187 
Jesuits, encourage persecution of 

Buddhists, 241 ; encouraged by 

leyasu's tolerant attitude, 242 ; 

instructions of Loyola to, 245, 

note 
Jewelry, its use among the early 

Japanese, 88 
Jimmu leads an expedition to the 

Main island, 52 
Jing5-K6g5, the wife of Chuai, 

73 ; invades Korea, 75 ; value 

of her invasion to Japan, 76 
Jurisdiction of foreign consuls, 

331 

K 

Kaempfer, services of, 311 
Kagoshima, bombardment of, 345 
Kagoshima, Prince of, turns 

against Christianity, 176 
Kamakura becomes a great city, 

150; destroyed by Nitta, 159 
Kanagawa made a port for trade, 

329 . 

Kato Kiyomasa's arrival in 

Korea, 214 ; after the victory 

of Sekigahara, 231 ; an enemy 

of Christianity, 232, note 

Ken (prefectures) established, 385 

Kido Takeyoshi, first appearance 

of, 358 ; prepares a memorial, 

384 
Kienchang, a French gunboat, 

fired upon at Shimonoseki, 346 
Kinkakuji, the building of, 164 
Kiyomori, head of the Taira 

family, 134 
Koeckebacker, Mr. , in the Shima- 

bara rebellion, 262 
Kogisho(parliament),established, 

381 * the doings of, 381 
Kojiki, translation of, 33 ; first 

issue of, 115 
Komei, Emperor, dies, 362 
Konishi's arrival in Korea, 214 



Korea, invaded by Jingo-Kogo, 
75; experiences with, 120; 
plans for invasion of, 209 ; 
ambassadors from, Hideyoshi 
treats rudely, 211 ; condition 
of, at the time of Hideyoshi's 
invasion, 212 ; commanders 
appointed for invading, 213 ; 
forces collected by Hideyoshi 
to invade, 213 ; Konishi's ar- 
rival in, 214 ; Japanese cam- 
paign in, 214 ; peace with, 
negotiated, 217 ; benefits from 
Hideyoshi's invasion of, 221 ; 
relations with, established by 

. leyasu, 237 

Koreans, an unexpected attack 
from, 388; expedition against, 
388 

Kudatama and magatama, 88 

Kuges sympathizing with Choshu 
are expelled, 356 

Kumamoto, the castle of, resists 
Saigo, 390 

Kurile islands belong to Japan, 2 

Kuro Shi wo (black current) its 
origin and course, 6 ; its effect 
on the climate, II 

Kusunoki Masashige, his loyalty 
to emperor, 158; supports' 
southern dynasty, 161 ; com- 
mits hara-kiri^ 162 

Kwambaku and shogun, the 
offices of, abolished, 368 

Kyoto, capital removed to, 123 ; 
and Yedo, courts of, become 
more hostile, 340 ; renamed 
Saikyd, 378 ; a hot-bed of anti- 
foreign sentiment, 351 ; excite= 
ment at, 354 ; contest in, 356 ; 
partly destroyed by fire, 358 



Lakes, number and extent of, 9 
Language, early, of the Japanese, 

85 
Lantern, temple, 286 
Latitude and longitude of Japan' 

ese islands, 2 



INDEX, 



559 



L*gacy of leyasu, on the Chris- 
tian religion, 288 ; its pro- 
visions, 301, 302 

Legality of the foreign treaties, 
326 

Legendary events disappear, 95 

Letters, styles of, 273 

Longitude and latitude of Japan- 
ese islands, 2 

Lowder, Mr. J, F., translates the 
Legacy of leyasu, 301, note 



M 



Magatama and Kudatama, 88 
Main island, how designated, 3 
Malay element, 30 
Marco Polo's first mention of 

Japan, i 
Massage, Japanese origin of, 308 
Matchlock, introduced by the 

Portuguese, 170; sword, and 

spears, 285 
Measurements of the Japanese 

and Ainos, 31 
Medical science during the Toku- 

gawa period, 306 
Medicine, Chinese, introduced, 

96 
Meiji, a new year period adopted, 

378 
Metal almost unknown to early 

Japanese, 92 
Migrations from the continent, 

29 
Mimizuka at Kyoto, origin of, 

220 
Minamoto, family of, first be- 
comes prominent, 132 ; struggle 

of, with Taira, 133 ; becomes 

supreme, 143 
Miracles alleged to have been 

performed by Xavier, 174 
Mito ronins engaged in attack on 

British Legation, 336 
Mito, the daimyd of, gives ten 

reasons, 318 ; opposed to 

foreigners, 318 ; the head of 

anti-foreign party, 325 
Mitsunari, character of, 226 



Mongolian ambassadors, put to 

death, 156 
Mongolians invade Japan, 155 
Mori Arinori assassinated, 396 
Morse, Professor E. S., concern- 
ing shell heaps, 25, note 
Mountain ranges, 7 
Movable types used in Korea in 

1317, 301, note 
Moxa, cauterization by, 308 
Muretsu, Emperor, noted for 

cruelty, 103 
Mutsuhito becomes emperor, 363 
Myer, Dr. Carl, on Jesuit atti- 
tude, 246, note 
Myths, how to be used in history, 
36 



N 



Nagasaki becomes a Christian 
city, 178 ; the place of the 
severest persecutions, 249 ; gov- 
ernor of, searches for Chris- 
tians, 253 ; result of persecu- 
tions in, 254 

Nara, imperial residence fixed at, 
122 

Nihongi, character of, 33 ; first 
issue of, 116 

Ninigi-no-mikoto descends to 
Japan, 46 

Nintoku, Emperor, remits taxes, 

79 
Nintoku, the Sage Emperor, 79 
Nitta and Ashikaga Taka-uji, 160 
Nitta Yoshisada, joins Masashige, 
158 ; casts his sword in the sea, 
159 : supports southern dynasty, 
161 ; death of, 162 
Nobeoka the last stand of the 

rebels, 391 
Nobunaga, origin of, 179 ; char- 
acteristics of, 180 ; vengeance 
of, on the Buddhists, 186 ; atti- 
tude of, towards the Jesuits, 
187 ; relations of, to the em- 
peror, 189; treason against, 
191 ; complications at death 
of, 195 



56o 



INDEX, 



Northern dynasty of emperors in 

possession of capital, i6t 
Northern emperors, list of, i66 



Oban, gold coin, 306 

Official rank, Chinese system of, 

_ "3 

Ojin, Emperor, birth of, 76 ; 
worshipped as god of war, 76 

Okubo Toshimichi proposes to 
move the capital, 376 ; assassi- 
nated, 392 

Oldest books of Japan, 32 

Orange introduced from China, 
64 

Origin of the celestial deities, 37 

Osaka, Hideyoshi builds castle 
at, 199 : • leyasu's expedition 
against, 237 ; the castle of, 

• taken by leyasu, 237 ; castle of, 
burnt, 371 ; opened to foreign 
trade, 372 

Outrages on foreigners continued, 
352 

P 

Pacifying the land, legends of, 46 

Palace, form of early Japanese, 59 

Parkes, Sir Harry, arrives in 

Japan, 358 ; attack on escort 

of, 373 

Parties in Japan over foreign 
treaties, 325 

Pembroke, an American ship, 
fired upon at Shimonoseki, 346 

Perry, Commodore, entrusted 
with an expedition to Japan, 
312 ; his preparations, 312 ; 
declines to take men of civil 
life, 313 ; portrait of, 315 ; de- 
livers the President's letter, 
316 ; preliminary negotiations, 
316 ; his display of force, 316 ; 
returns to Japan, 322; nego- 
tiates a treaty, 322 

Persecution of Chrisiicfns, begun, 

247 ; inhuman character of, 

248 ; progress of, 250 



Pine tree, Yamato-dake's poem 

to, 72 
Pinto, arrival of, in Japan, 170; 

experience of, with the son of 

the Prince of Bungo, 171 ; 

visits the Prince of Bungo, 171 ; 

second visit of, to Japan, 172 ; 
Piracy, prevalence of, 167 
Pit-dwellers, evidences of, 26 ; 

encountered by Jimmu, 55 
Plants in use in prehistoric times, 

91 

Pope, embassy sent to, 187 ; brief 
against Franciscans and Do- 
minicans, 203 

Population of Japan, 18 ; popu- 
lation and areas, table of, 19 

Portuguese, first arrival of, in 
Japan, 169 ; sea-captain, indis- 
creet speech of, 204 ; and Span- 
ish abuse each other, 244 

Postponement of opening of ports, 
338 

Prefectures {ken), establishment 
of, 17 

President of U. S. letter to Em- 
peror of Japan, 313 

Productions of the Japanese 
islands, 13 

Proprietorship of emperor, 125 

Provinces, division into, 16 

Purification of Izanagi, 40 

R 

Races, two distinct, 20 ; pj-obablo 

origin of, 28 
Railway, the first, in Japan, 387 
Rank, Chinese system of official, 

113 
Rat at the altar of Xavier, 177 
Rebels retreat to the east coast, 

391 . , . 

Regency appointed by Hideyoshi 

on his death-bed, 222 
Religious belief among the 

Japanese, 286 
Religious nocions, prehistoric, of 

Japanese, 82 
Revision of treaties desired by 

the Japanese, 330 



INDEX. 



561 



Rewards for discovery of Chris- 
tians offered, 248 

Richardson, Charles L., assassi- 
nated, 343 ; excitement over, 

344 
Rivers, the principal, 10 
Ronins, the attitude of, 332 
Russians, efforts of, to open 

trade, 311 
Russian vessels seeking to nego- 
tiate, 321 
Ryukyu islands belong to Japan, 3 



Saigo Takamori negotiates be- 
tween Satsuma and Choshu, 
360 ; establishes military 
schools in Satsuma, 389 ; re- 
tires from the government, 389 ; 
starts with an expedition to 
Tokyo, 390 ; retreats to 
Kagoshima, 391 ; dies, 392 

Saigo Tsugumichi superintends 
transmission of troops, 390 

Saikyo the new name of Kyoto, 

Sake, its use and its origin, 86 
Samurai, the special privileges of, 

281 ; what Japan owes to the, 

282 ; often left helpless by 
abolition of feudalism, 386 

Saris, Captain, arrives in Japan, 

299 

Satow, E. M., on Shinto rituals, 
34; paper on sepulchral 
mounds, 65, note 

Satsuma, clan of, Hideyoshi's ex- 
pedition against, 199 ; daimyo 
of, after the victory of Sekiga- 
hara, 231 ; train of, leaves 
Yedo by Tokaido, 342 ; leaders 
of, impressed by western arma- 
ments, 345 ; troops of, their 
relations to Chdshu, 358 ; 
troops of, and Choshu oppose 
shogun's march, 371 ; conser- 
vatism in, 388 

Schools first established, 112 

Seclusion a mistake, 3x0 



Sekigahara, battle at, 229, 230 ; 

mounds of heads at, 230 
Serpent, eight-headed, killed in 

Izumo, 45 
Shell heaps, their lessons, 25 ; at 

Omori, 25 
Shimabara rebellion, 257 
Shimazu Saburd, visits Kyoto, 

340 ; coldly received at Yedo, 

341 ; retires from the govern- 
ment, 389 

Shimonoseki affair, 346 ; nego- 
tiations for damages at, 347 ; 
efforts of foreigners to avenge 
insults at, 347 ; convention 
agreed upon, 348 ; foreign ex- 
pedition to, 348 ; indemnity re- 
turned by United States, 349, 
note ; expedition to, its influ- 
ence, 350 

Shinto, the primitive religion, 83 

Ships of the Japanese in early 
times, 263 

Shogun and kwambaku, the offices 
of, abolished, 368 

Shogun's government disturbed by 
Perry's demands, 317 ; his gov- 
ernment convinced of impossi- 
bility of expelling foreigners, 
352 ; resigns, 366 ; retires to 
Osaka, 369 ; proposes to visit 
Ky5to with troops, 370 ; his 
forces defeated on way ro 
Kyoto, 371 ; besought to com- 
mit hara-kiri, 371, note ; his 
surrender ofpower at Yedo, 374 

Shdguns, list of, 504 

Shoguns, Tokugawa line of, 
begun, 234 

Shotoku Taishi, principal cham- 
pion of Buddhism, 107 ; as a 
law-giver, loC ; laws of, 510 

Siam, intercourse of Japanese 
with, 167 

Siebold, Baron von, his services, 

311; 
Siebold, Henry von, concerning 

shell heaps, 25, note 
Silkworms brought from China, 

no 



562 



INDEX, 



Silver first discovered, 121 
Social condition during the Toku- 

gawa period, 305 
Southern dynasty of emperors re- 
garded legitimate, 161 
Spanish missionary attempts a 

miracle, 244 
Spears, sword, and matchlock, 

285 
Stone age in Japan, 25 
Stone arrows and spear-heads, 92 
Struggle between the Taira and 

Minamoto, 133 
Succession, unbroken line of, 118 
Sugawara family prominent, 129 
Sugawara Michizane, patron of 
scholars, 130 ; banished from 
Japan, 130 
Suinin, Emperor, legend of con- 
spiracy against, 62 
Sword, claimed to have been 
carried in descent to Japan, 
47, note 
Sword-maker, diagram of, 283 
Swords, samurai carried two, 282 
Sword, the estimation of the, 
284 ; the etiquette and use of 
the, 284; spears, and match- 
lock, 285 
Syllabary, Japanese, 274 



Tachibana family prominent, 129 

Tachibana, Princess, sacrifices 
herself to save her husband, 7 1 

Taga, ancient monument at, 124 

Taira and Minamoto, struggle 
between, 133 

Taira family first becomes promi- 
nent, 132 

Take-no-uchi, prime-minister of 
Jingo-Kogo, 74 

Taxes, first levied, 61; early, paid 
in kind, 82 

Tea ceremonies founded by 
Yoshimasa, 165 

Temples, prehistoric, of Japan- 
ese, 83 



Terashima and others sent to 

Europe, 345, note 
Time, reckoning of, by the early 

Japanese, 86 
Tokiwa surrenders herself, 136 
Tokugawa crest, 239 
Tokugawa shoguns, character of, 

304 
Tokyo the new name of Yedo, 

378 
Toleration, ideas of, in i6lh and 

17th centuries, 241 ; principles 

of, established, 380 
Tosa, diamy5 of, presents address 

to the shogun, 364 
Townsend Harris arrives as U. S. 

consul, 327 
Travelling in prehistoric times, 

93 . 
Treaties, first, not commercial, 

324 ; negotiated with other 

powers, 324 ; sanction of, by 

the emperor, 360 
Treaty negotiated by Perry, 322 
Types of the Japanese race, 27 



U 



United States of America, inter- 
est of, in opening trade, 311 ; 
consul of, to reside at Shimoda, 

327 
Uyeno, the battle at, 374 

V 

Volcanoes, number of, 9 
W 

Wakamatsu, the final battle at, 

375 
Warenius' description of kingdom 

of Japan, 249, note 
Weavers and sewers brought 

from China, no 
Whale fishery, its influence, 311 
Wild animals in Japan, 15 ; in 

prehistoric times, 93 
Writing, art of, when introduced, 

32 



INDEX. 



563 



Xavier, meeting of, with Anjiro, 
172 ; arrival of, in Japan, 173 ; 
lands at Kagoshima, 173 ; 
characteristics of, 174 ; tra- 
ditional portrait of, 175 ; visits 
Hirado, 176 ; visits Yama- 
guchi, 176 ; reception of, at 
Kyoto, 177 ; death of, in China, 
177 ; buried in Goa, 177 



Yamaguchi, Xavier's first visit to, 
176 

Yamato-dake, kills his brother, 
66 ; kills the bandits at Ku- 
maso, 66 ; adventures of, in the 
East, 69 ; poem to pine-tree, 
72 ; death of, 73 

Year-periods, list of, 496 

Yedo, recommended to leyasu as 
his seat of government, 207 ; 



the early history of, 235 ; chosen 
as the seat of government, 235 ; 
its preparations for the Toku- 
gawa capital, 274 ; renamed 
T6ky5, 373 
Yengishiki, Shint5 rituals, 34 
Yezo, its situation and extent, 6 
Yokohama found more available 

for trade, 329 
Yoritomo sent into exile, 135 ; 
organizes rebellion against the 
Taira, 138 ; his treatment of 
Yoshitsune, 144 ; establishes 
his capital at Kamakura, 146 ; 
becomes sei-i-tai-shogun, 148 ; 
death of, 150 ; successors of, 
151 
Yoshiaki installed shdgun, 184 ; 

deposed by Nobunaga, 189 
Yoshitsune, first mention of, 136 ; 
flees to Mutsu, 137 ; conquers 
the Taira at Dan-no-ura, 142 ; 
legends concerning, 145 




INDEX TO SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTERS. 



Anglo-Saxon civilization, influ- 
ence of, in the Far East, 485, 
486 

B 

Banking system, 422 

"Boxer" insurrection, 425, 426 



Chefoo, treaty between Japan 

and China ratified at, 417 
China, sends peace embassies to 

Japan, 415, 4^7 
Chinese army, equipment and 

strength of, 404 
Chi no- Japanese war, 401 et seq., 

418, 458 
Constitution, drafted by Count 

Ito, 397, 481 ; promulgated 

by the Emperor, 482 ; differs 

from constitutions of Western 

nations. 482, 483 
Constitutional government, 397 

etseq. 
Constitutional Imperial party, 

400, 419 



D 



Dalny, leased to Russia, 458; oc- 
cupied by Japanese, 435 



Education, in modern times, 421 



Emperor, functions of, 397, 400 

F 

Friends of the Constitution, As- 
sociation of, 420 



Government of Japan, under the 
constitution, 397 et seq. 



Indemnity from China, 422 

Industries, 422, 423 

Itagaki, the " Rousseau of Ja- 
pan," 400, 420 

Ito Hirobumbi, Count (after- 
ward Marquis), prepares a con- 
stitution, 397,481 ; opinion of 
the constitution, 397 ; sent on 
mission to China, 403 : Admi- 
ral in Chino-Japanese war, 407, 
414 ; Minister President, 420 ; 
reorganizes Japanese army and 
navy, 424 ; negotiates treaty 
with King of Korea, 453 



Japan, raised to first-class power, 
452, 453,473 ; diplomatic cor- 
respondence with Russia, 460, 
461, 515; economic and finan- 
cial resources, 465-472 ; pol- 
icy and ideals, 473 et seq.^ 



565 



566 INDEX TO SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTERS, 



479 ; civilization, 424, 475 ; 
general condition, 476 ; not 
" a nation of imitators, "476 et 
seq. ; advocate of arbitration 

484 
Japanese army, equipment and 

strength of, 404 ; reorganized, 

424 
Japanese navy, reorganized, 424 
Japanese Parliament, first, 479, 

481, 484 



K 



Katsura, General, operations 
against Chinese, 416 ; Minister 
President, 420 

Komura, Baron Jutaro, offers to 
negotiate v^'ith Russia, 427 ; 
peace commissioner, 450 

Korea, the "Hermit Nation", 
relations with China and Ja- 
pan, 401 et seq.; a cause of dis- 
sension between Russia and 
Japan, 427, 459 ; control of, 
assumed by Japan, 453 

Kurino, Baron, Japanese Minis- 
ter to Russia, 427, 428 

Kuroki, General, victories of, 
432, 434. 43M38 

Kuropatkin, General, Russian 
commander of Manchuria, 
429 ; defeated, 435-437 ; ad- 
vances to Port Arthur, 439; 
retreats, 444 ; superseded by 
General Linevitch, 445 



Lamsdorff, Count, diplomatic 
correspondence with, 427, 428, 
.460, 515 

Liao-tung Peninsula, ceded to 
Japan, 417, 458 ; a subject of 
controversy, 419 ; war opera- 
tions, 434 

Liberal party, organized, 400 ; 
absorbed in constitutionl par- 
ity, 419 

Li-Hung-Chang, signs the Tien- 



tsin convention, 403 ; heads 
Chinese embassy to Japan, 417 
Linevitch, General, succeeds 
General Kuropatkin, 445 



M 



Makaroff, Admiral, sent to Port 
Arthur, 429; death, 431 • 

Manchurian question, 426, 427, 
457 et seq., 485, 486 

Mukden, battle of, 444, 445 



N 



Nogi, General, occupies Kai- 
ping, 413, 416; commands 
operations to reduce Port 
Arthur, 435, 439, et seq. 



Oku, General, in Liao-tung Pen- 
insula, 434 et seq. 

Okuma, the "Peel of Japan," 
400, 420 

" Open-door " principle and pol- 
icy, 478, 481, 4S6 

Oshima, General, victory over 
Chinese, 406 

Oyama, General, against Port 
Arthur, 410 ; at Liao-yang, 436 



Parties in Japan, political, 400 
Peace conference at Portsmouth, 

N. H., 450 
Peking, siege of, 425 
Ping-yang, captured, 406, 407 
Port Arthur, advance against, 
410; strength of, 411 ; taken 
by the Japanese, 412 ; ceded to 
Japan by treaty, 417 ; leased 
to Russia, 419, 458 ; siege of, 

431, 439-443 

Portsmouth, N. H., peace con- 
ference at, 450 

Progressive party, 400, 419 



INDEX TO SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTERS. 567 



R 



Railways, the first in Japan, 423 ; 
development of, 423 

Rodjestvensky, Admiral, sent to 
relieve Port Arthur, 445 ; sur- 
renders, 448 

Roosevelt, Theodore, President 
of the United States, brings 
about a peace conference, 450 

Rosen, Baron Roman Romano- 
vitch, Russian peace commis- 
sioner, 450 

Russia, relations with China, 426, 
458 et seq.; occupies Man- 
churia, 426, 427, 457 et 
seq.; negotiations with Korea, 
427 diplomatic correspondence 
with Japan, 427, 460, 515; pre- 
parations for war with Japan, 
461-463 ; Manchurian policy, 
585 

Russo-Japanese War, causes and 
events leading up to, 426 et 
seq., 457-463 ; Japan's pre- 
parations for, 42S ; Russia's 
preparations for, 461-463 ; war 
declared, 429, 463, 464 ; disas- 
ters to Russia's.navy, 429-432 ; 
operations on land, 432-444 ; 
siege and surrender of Port 
Arthur, 439-443 ; battle of 
Mukden, 444, 445 ; Russian 
fleet destroyed, 448, 449 ; peace 
negotiations, 450, 451 ; treaty, 
451, 452 ; results, 452, 453 



Saionji, Minister President, 420 
Samurai, spirit of, 401, 402, 476, 

477 
Schools, modern system of, 421 
Shibusawa, Baron, opinion of 

the Japanese, 422 



Shimonoseki, treaty of, 417, 458 
"Shimose" powder, 428, 436, 

.477 
Siberian railway, 458 
Stossel, General, surrenders Port 
Arthur, 443 



Takahira, Kogoro, Japanese 
peace commissioner, 450 

Tientsin convention, provisions 
of, 403 

Togo, Admiral, at Asan, 406 ; 
at Port Arthur, 429, 431 ; de- 
stroys Russian fleet, 446-448 

Tokugawa government, treaties 
with, 418 

Treaties, revision of, 418, 419 ; 
on equal terms, 419, 426 ; with 
England, 426, 453 ; with Rus- 
sia, 451, 452 



U 



Uriu, Rear- Admiral, 429, 448 



W 



" White peril," 489, 490 
Witte, Count Sergius, Russian 
peace commissioner, 450 



Yamagata, Marshal, 409 ; Min- 
ister President, 420 ; reorgan- 
izes the army and navy, 424 

Yamaji, General, takes Kinchow, 
410 ; storms forts of Port Ar- 
thur, 411; joins Nogi, 416; 
occupies Ying-kow, 417 

" Yellow peril," 487-490 



Ji Selection from the 
Catalogue of 

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 



Complete Catalo|(vie sent 
on application 



The Story of the Nations 



In the story form the current of each National life 
is distinctly indicated, and its picturesque and note- 
worthy periods and episodes are presented for the 
reader in their philosophical relation to each othei 
as well as to universal history. 

It is the plan of the writers of the different volumes' 
to enter into the real life of the peoples, and to bring 
them, before the reader as they actually lived, labored, 
and struggled — as they studied and wrote, and as 
they amused themselves. In carrying out this plan, 
the myths, with which the history of all lands be- 
gins, are not overlooked, though they are carefully 
distinguished from the actual history, so far as the 
labors of the accepted historical authorities have 
resulted in definite conclusions. 

The subjects of the different volumes have been 
planned to cover connecting and, as far as possible, 
consecutive epochs or periods, so that the set when 
completed will present in a comprehensive narrative 
the chief events in the great Story of the Nations; 
but it is, of course, not always practicable to issue 
the several volumes in their chronological order. 

Pov list of volumes see next page. 



THE STORY OP THE NATIONS 



GREECE. Prof. Jas. A. Harrison. 

ROME. Arthur Oilman. 

THE JEWS. Prof. James K. Hos- 

mer. 
CHALDEA. Z. A. Ragozin. 
GERMANY. S. Baring-Gould. 
NORWAY. Hjalmar H. Boyesen. 
SPAIN. Rev. E. E. and Susan 

Hale. 
HUNGARY. Prof. A. Vdmbdry. 
CARTHAGE. Prof. Alfred J. 

Church. 
THE SARACENS. Arthur Gil- 

man. 
THE MOORS IN SPAIN. Stanley 

Lane-Poole. 
THE NORMANS, Sarah Ome 

Jewett. 
PERSIA. S. G. W. Benjamin. 
ANCIENT EGYPT. Prox. Geo. 

Rawlinson. 
ALEXANDER'S EMPIRE. Prof. 

J. P. Mahaffy. 
ASSYRIA. Z. A. Ragozin. 
THE GOTHS. Henry Bradley. 
IRELAND. Hon. Emily Lawless. 
TURKEY. Stanley Lane-Poole. 
MEDIA. BABYLON, AND PER- 

SIA. Z. A. Ragozin. 
MEDIEVAL FRANCE. Prof. Gus- 

tave Masson. 
HOLLAND. Prof, J. Thoroid 

Rogers. 
MEXICO. Susan Hale. 
PHCENICIA. George Rawlinson. 



THE HANSA TOWNS. Helen 

Zimmem. 
EARLY BRITAIN. Prof. Alfred 

J. Church. 
THE BARBARY CORSAIRS. 

Stanley Lane-Poole. 
RUSSIA. W. R. Morfill. 
THE JEWS UNDER ROME, W. 

D. Morrison. 
SCOTLAND. John Mackintosh. 
SWITZERLAND. R. Stead and 

Mrs. A. Hug. 
PORTUGAL. H, Morse-Stephens. 
THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE. C, 

W. C. Oman. 
SICILY. E. A. Freeman. 
THE TUSCAN REPUBLICS, Bella 

Duffy. 
POLAND. W. R. Morfiil. 
PARTHIA. Geo. RawHnson, 
JAPAN. David Murray. 
THE CHRISTIAN RECOVERS 

OF SPAIN. H. E. Watts. 
AUSTRALASIA. GreviUe Tregar- 

then. 
SOUTHERN AFRICA, Geo, M. 

Theal. 
VENICE. Alethea Weil 
THE CRUSADES. T. S. Archet 

and C. L. Kingsford. 
VEDIC INDIA. Z. A. Ragozin. 
BOHEMIA. C. E. Maurice^ 
CANADA. J. G, Bourinot. 
THE BALKAN STATES. William 

MiUer. 



THE STORY OF THE NATIONS 



BRITISH RULE IN INDIA. R. 

W. Frazer. 
MODERN FRANCE. Andr^ LeBon. 
THE BRITISH EMPIRE. Alfred 

T. Story. Two vols. 
THE FRANKS. Lewis Sergeant. 
THE WEST INDIES. Amos K. 

Fiske. 
THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 
. Justin McCarthy, M.P. Two 

vols. 
AUSTRIA. Sidney Whitman. 
CHINA. Robt. K. Douglass. 
MODERN SPAIN. Major Martin 

A. S. Hume. 
MODERN ITALY. Pietro Orsi. 
THE THIRTEEN COLONIES. 

Helen A. Smith. Two vols. 
WALES AND CORNWALL. Owen 

M. Edwards. Net $1.35. 
^EDLEVAL ROME. Wra. Miller. 



THE PAPAL MONARCHY. Wm. 

Barry. 
MEDIEVAL INDIA. Stanley 

Lane -Poole. 
BUDDHIST INDIA. T. W. Rhys. 

Davids. 
THE SOUTH AMERICAN RE. 

PUBLICS. Thomas C. Daw- 

son. Two vols. 
PARLIAMENTARY ENGLAND, 

Edward Jenks. 
MEDIEVAL ENGLAND. Mary 

Bateson. 
THE UNITED STATES. Edward 

Earle Sparks. Two vols. 
ENGLAND, THE COMING OP 

PARLIAMENT. L. Cecil Jane. 
GREECE— EARLIEST TIMES— 

A.D. 14. E. S. Shuckburgh. 
ROMAN EMPIRE, B.C. 29-A.D 

476, N. Stuart Jones. 



Heroes of the Nations 



A Series o£ biographical studies of the lives and 
work of a number of representative historical char- 
acters about whom have gathered the great traditions 
of the Nations to which they belonged, and who have 
been accepted, in many instances, as types of the 
several National ideals. With the life of each typical 
character is presented a picture of the National con- 
ditions surrounding him during his career. 

The narratives are the work of writers who are 
recognized authorities on their several subjects, 
and while thoroughly trustworthy as history, pre- 
sent picturesque and dramatic " stories " of the Men 
and of the events connected with them. 

To the Life of each '* Hero " is given one duo- 
decimo volume, handsomely printed in large type, 
provided with maps and adequately illustrated ac- 
cording to the special requirements of the several 
subjects. 

For full list of volumes see next page. 



HEROES OF THE NATIONS 



NELSON. By W. Clark Russell. 
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. By C. 

R. L. Fletcher. 
PERICLES. By Evelyn Abbott. 
THEODORIC THE GOTH. By 

Thomas Hodgkin. 
SIR PHILIP SIDNEY. By H. R. 

Fox-Bourne. 
JULIUS C^SAR. By W. Warde 

Fowler. 
WYCLIP. By Lewis Sergeant. 
NAPOLEON. By W. O'Connor 

Morris. 
HENRY OF NAVARRE. By P. 

F. Willert. 
CICERO. By J. L. Strachan- 

Davidson. 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. By Noah 

Brooks. 
PRINCE HENRY (OF PORTU- 

GAL) THE NAVIGATOR. 

By C. R. Beazley. 
JULIAN THE PHILOSOPHER. 

By Alice Gardner. 
LOUIS XIV. By Arthur HassaU, 
CHARLES XII. By R. Nisbet 

Bain. 
LORENZO DE' MEDICI. By 

Edward Armstrong. 
JEANNE D'ARC. By Mrs. OK- 

phant. 
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. By 

Washington Irving. 



ROBERT THE BRUCE. By Sit 

Herbert Maxwell. 
HANNIBAL. By W. O'Connor 

Morris. 
ULYSSES S. GRANT. By William 

Conant Church. 
ROBERT E. LEE. By Henry 

Alexander White. 
THE CID CAMPEADOR. By H, 

Butler Clarke. 
SALADIN. By Stanley Lane 

Poole. 
BISMARCK. By J. W. Headlam. 
ALEXANDER THE GREAT. By 

Benjamin I. Wheeler. 
CHARLEMAGNE. By H. W. C, 

Davis. 
OLIVER CROMWELL. By 

Charles Firth. 
RICHELIEU. By James B.Perkins. 
DANIEL O'CONNELL. By Rob- 

ert Dunlop. 
SAINT LOUIS (Louis IX. of 

France). By Frederick Perry. 
LORD CHATHAM. By Walford 

Davis Green. 
OWEN GLYNDWR. By Arthur 

G. Bradley. 
HENRY V. By Charles L. Kings- 

ford. 
EDWARD I. By Edward Jenks. 
AUGUSTUS C^SAR. By J. B. 

Firth. 



HEROES OF THE NATIONS 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. By 

W. F. Reddaway. 
WELLINGTON. By W. O'Connor 

Morris. 
CONSTANTINE THE GREAT. 

By J. B. Firth. 
MOHAMMED. By D.S.Margoliouth. 
CHARLES THE BOLD. By Ruth 

Putnam. 
WASHINGTON. By J. A. Harrison. 



WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 

By F. B. Stanton. 
FERNANDO CORTES. By F. A. 

MacNutt. 
WILLIAM THE SILENT. By 

Ruth Putnam. 
BLUCHER. By E. F. Hendersoit. 



Other volumes in preparation are : 



MARLBOROUGH. By C. T. At- 
kinson. 

MOLTKE. By James Wardell. 

ALFRED THE GREAT. By Ber- 
tha Lees. 



GREGORY VII. 



JUDAS MACCABiEUS 
Abrahams. 



By F. Urquhart. 
By Israel 



FREDERICK II. By A. L. Smith. 

New York— G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, Publishers— London 



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Books on Japan 

An Exposition of Japanese Thought 

Bushido 

The Soul of Japan 
Bf Inaza Nitobe, A.M., Ph.D. 

Professor in the Imperial University of Kyoto 

Tenth Revised and Enlarged Edition. $1.25 net. 

By mail, $1.35 

This book is so packed with thought, so attractive in style, so 
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a paragraph. 

By Ceorge William Knox, D>D,, 

Professor of the History and Philosophy of Religion in Union 
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Japanese Life in Town and 
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Cr.Sifo. Fully illustrated. $l.20net. By mail, 
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The Development of Re- 
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Cr. Svo. $f.SO net. By mail, $/.6S 

No. VI. in " American Lectures on the History of PeUgions" 

" A notable addition to this excellent series."— ^-Tfte Churchman. 
" The author is peculiarly qualified for appreciative treatment of 
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